The Origin and Orbital Resonances of the Kepler-29 System

The origin and 9:7 MMR dynamics of the Kepler-29 system

Authors:

Migaszewski et al

Abstract:

We analyse the Transit Timing Variation (TTV) measurements of a~system of two super-Earths detected as Kepler-29, in order to constrain the planets' masses and orbital parameters. A dynamical analysis of the best-fitting configurations constrains the masses to be ∼5 and ∼6 Earth masses for the inner and the outer planets, respectively. The analysis also reveals that the system is likely locked in the 9:7~mean motion resonance. However, a variety of orbital architectures regarding eccentricities and the relative orientation of orbits is permitted by the observations as well as by stability constraints. We attempt to find configurations preferred by the planet formation scenarios as an additional, physical constraint. We show that configurations with low eccentricities and anti-aligned apsidal lines of the orbits are a natural and most likely outcome of the convergent migration. However, we show that librations of the critical angles are not necessary for the Kepler-29 system to be dynamically resonant, and such configurations may be formed on the way of migration as well. We argue, on the other hand, that aligned configurations with e≳0.03 may be not consistent with the migration scenario.

Ten Kepler ExoPlanets Between 3 & 8 Earth Mass (Kepler-105c Appears to Have Earth-like Density)

Robust TTV Mass Measurements: Ten Kepler Exoplanets between 3 and 8 Earth Masses with Diverse Densities and Incident Fluxes

Authors:

Jontof-Hutter et al

Abstract:

We infer dynamical masses in eight multi-planet systems using transit times measured from Kepler's complete dataset, including short-cadence data where available. Of the eighteen dynamical masses that we infer, ten pass multiple tests for robustness. These are in systems; Kepler-26 (KOI-250), Kepler-29 (KOI-738), Kepler-60 (KOI-2086), Kepler-105 (KOI-115), and Kepler-307 (KOI-1576). Kepler-105 c has a density consistent with an Earth-like composition.

Strong TTV signals were detected from additional planets, but their inferred masses were sensitive to outliers or consistent solutions could not be found with independently-measured transit times, including planets at; Kepler-49 (KOI-248), Kepler-57 (KOI-1270), Kepler-105 (KOI-115) and Kepler-177 (KOI-523). Strong upper limits on the mass of Kepler-177 c imply an extremely low density ~0.1 g cm−3.

In most cases, individual orbital eccentricities were poorly constrained due to degeneracies in TTV inversion. For five planet pairs in our sample, strong secular interactions imply a moderate-to-high likelihood of apsidal alignment over a wide range of possible eccentricities. We also find solutions for the three planets known to orbit Kepler-60 in a Laplace-like resonance chain. However, non-librating solutions also match the transit-timing data.

For six systems, we calculate more precise stellar parameters than previously known, enabling useful constraints on planetary densities where we have robust mass measurements. Placing these exoplanets on the mass-radius diagram, we find a wide range of densities is observed among sub-Neptune mass planets and that the range in observed densities is anti-correlated with incident flux.