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A long-period substellar object exhibiting a single transit in Kepler

Authors :
Quinn, Samuel N.
Rappaport, Saul
Vanderburg, Andrew
Eastman, Jason D.
Nelson, Lorne A.
Jacobs, Thomas L.
LaCourse, Daryll M.
Schmitt, Allan R.
Berlind, Perry
Calkins, Michael L.
Esquerdo, Gilbert A.
Howard, Andrew W.
Isaacson, Howard
Latham, David W.
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
arXiv, 2021.

Abstract

We report the detection of a single transit-like signal in the Kepler data of the slightly evolved F star KIC4918810. The transit duration is ~45 hours, and while the orbital period ($P\sim10$ years) is not well constrained, it is one of the longest among companions known to transit. We calculate the size of the transiting object to be $R_P = 0.910$ $R_J$. Objects of this size vary by orders of magnitude in their densities, encompassing masses between that of Saturn ($0.3$ $M_J$) and stars above the hydrogen-burning limit (~80 $M_J$). Radial-velocity observations reveal that the companion is unlikely to be a star. The mass posterior is bimodal, indicating a mass of either ~0.24 $M_J$ or ~26 $M_J$. Continued spectroscopic monitoring should either constrain the mass to be planetary or detect the orbital motion, the latter of which would yield a benchmark long-period brown dwarf with a measured mass, radius, and age.<br />Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to AAS journals

Details

Database :
OpenAIRE
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....d1ba5e366626c4603a64df05d98306f2
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2107.00027