Visual Analysis and Demographics of Kepler Transit Timing Variations

Abstract

We visually analyzed the Transit Timing Variation (TTV) data of 5930 Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) homogeneously. Using data from Rowe et al. 2014 and Holczer et al. 2016, we investigated TTVs for KOIs in Kepler's Data Release 24 catalog. Using TTV plots, periodograms, and folded quadratic sinusoid fits, we visually rated each KOI's TTV data in five categories. Our ratings emphasize the hundreds of planets with TTVs that are weaker than the 200 or so that have been studied in detail. Our findings are consistent with statistical methods for identifying strong TTVs (Holczer et al. 2016), though we find some additional systems worth investigation. Between about 3-50 days and 1.3-6 Earth radii, the frequency of strong TTVs increases with period and radius. As expected, strong TTVs are very common when period ratios are near a resonance, but there is not a one-to-one correspondence. The observed planet-by-planet frequency of strong TTVs is only somewhat lower in systems with 1-2 known planets (7 +/- 1 percent) than in systems with 3+ known planets (11 +/- 2 percent). We attribute TTVs to known planets in multi-transiting systems, but find about 30 cases where the perturbing planet is unknown. Our conclusions are valuable as an ensemble for learning about planetary system architectures and individually as stepping stones towards more detailed mass-radius constraints. We also discuss Data Release 25 TTVs, about 100 KOIs with Transit Duration and/or Depth Variations, and that the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will likely find roughly 10 planets with strong TTVs.

arXiv comment21 pages, 4 figures; accepted to AAS Journals; TTV plots and other data available at https://haumea.byu.edu/kanettv/

References in corpus (46)

• DHP Framework: Digital Health Passports Using Blockchain -- Use case on international tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic
• On detecting terrestrial planets with timing of giant planet transits
• Architecture and Dynamics of Kepler's Candidate Multiple Transiting Planet Systems
• EXOFAST: A fast exoplanetary fitting suite in IDL
• The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite: Simulations of planet detections and astrophysical false positives
• Validation of Kepler's Multiple Planet Candidates. III: Light Curve Analysis & Announcement of Hundreds of New Multi-planet Systems
• Kepler Eclipsing Binary Stars. VII. The Catalog of Eclipsing Binaries Found in the Entire Kepler Data-Set
• Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VIII. A Fully Automated Catalog With Measured Completeness and Reliability Based on Data Release 25
• Kepler-36: A Pair of Planets with Neighboring Orbits and Dissimilar Densities
• Extracting Planet Mass and Eccentricity From TTV data
• Orbital perturbations on transiting planets: A possible method to measure stellar quadrupoles and to detect Earth-mass planets
• About 30% of Sun-like Stars Have Kepler-like Planetary Systems: A Study of their Intrinsic Architecture
• Kepler constraints on planets near hot Jupiters
• Kepler Planet Masses and Eccentricities from TTV Analysis
• Probing the Interiors of Very Hot Jupiters Using Transit Light Curves
• Transit Timing Observations from Kepler. IX. Catalog of the Full Long-Cadence Data Set
• Transit Timing Observations from Kepler. VIII Catalog of Transit Timing Measurements of the First Twelve Quarters
• KOI-142, the King of Transit Variations, is a Pair of Planets near the 2:1 Resonance
• The Kepler-19 System: A Transiting 2.2 R_Earth Planet and a Second Planet Detected via Transit Timing Variations
• Secure TTV Mass Measurements: Ten Kepler Exoplanets between 3 and 8 Earth Masses with Diverse Densities and Incident Fluxes
• A Dynamical Analysis of the Kepler-80 System of Five Transiting Planets
• Can planetary instability explain the Kepler dichotomy?
• The period ratio distribution of Kepler's candidate multiplanet systems
• Transit Timing Observations from Kepler: I. Statistical Analysis of the First Four Months
• Correlations between compositions and orbits established by the giant impact era of planet formation
• A 1.9 Earth radius rocky planet and the discovery of a non-transiting planet in the Kepler-20 system
• Transit timing to first order in eccentricity
• Predicted Number, Multiplicity, and Orbital Dynamics of TESS M Dwarf Exoplanets
• Spin-orbit resonance, transit duration variation and possible secular perturbations in KOI-13
• The Kepler Dichotomy in Planetary Disks: Linking Kepler Observables to Simulations of Late-Stage Planet Formation
• Kepler-108: A Mutually Inclined Giant Planet System
• Systemic: A Testbed for Characterizing the Detection of Extrasolar Planets. II. Numerical approaches to the Transit Timing Inverse Problem
• Efficient Geometric Probabilities of Multi-Transiting Exoplanetary Systems from CORBITS
• Time variation of Kepler transits induced by stellar spots - a way to distinguish between prograde and retrograde motion. II. Application to KOIs
• Eccentric Companions to Kepler-448b and Kepler-693b: Clues to the Formation of Warm Jupiters
• Mass, Density, and Formation Constraints in the Compact, Sub-Earth Kepler-444 System including Two Mars-Mass Planets
• A spectral approach to transit timing variations
• The Value of Systems with Multiple Transiting Planets
• Frequency of Close Companions among Kepler Planets - a TTV study
• Planet Detection Simulations for Several Possible TESS Extended Missions
• A population of planetary systems characterized by short-period, Earth-sized planets
• Potential Biases in the Detection of Planetary Systems with Large Transit Timing Variations
• Photo-Dynamical Analysis of Three Kepler Objects of Interest with Significant Transit Timing Variations
• Eclipsing binaries and fast rotators in the Kepler sample. Characterization via radial velocity analysis from Calar Alto
• Uniform Modeling of KOIs: MCMC Data Release Notes
• A Habitable Zone Census via Transit Timing and the Imperative for Continuing to Observe the Kepler Field

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Mutual Orbital Inclinations Between Cold Jupiters and Inner Super-Earths
• Formation of compact systems of super-Earths via dynamical instabilities and giant impacts
• Unbiasing the density of TTV-characterised sub-Neptunes: Update of the mass-radius relationship of 34 Kepler planets
• Alleviating the transit timing variation bias in transit surveys. I. RIVERS: Method and detection of a pair of resonant super-Earths around Kepler-1705
• Science Extraction from TESS Observations of Known Exoplanet Hosts
• Transit Timing Variations in the three-planet system: TOI-270
• Updated Catalog of Kepler Planet Candidates: Focus on Accuracy and Orbital Periods
• A search for transit timing variations within the exomoon corridor using Kepler data
• The Exomoon Corridor for Multiple Moon Systems
• Observable Predictions from Perturber-coupled High-eccentricity Tidal Migration of Warm Jupiters
• Alleviating the Transit Timing Variations bias in transit surveys. II. RIVERS: Twin resonant Earth-sized planets around Kepler-1972 recovered from Kepler's false positive
• Systematic search for long-term transit duration changes in Kepler transiting planets
• Transit Duration Variations in Multi-Planet Systems
• Evidence for a Non-Dichotomous Solution to the Kepler Dichotomy: Mutual Inclinations of Kepler Planetary Systems from Transit Duration Variations
• Exploring Long-period Architectures: Four New Planet Candidates from Kepler with Periods >342 days