Company for the Ultra-high Density, Ultra-short Period Sub-Earth GJ 367 b: Discovery of Two Additional Low-mass Planets at 11.5 and 34 Days
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023

GJ 367 is a bright (V ≈ 10.2) M1 V star that has been recently found to host a transiting ultra-short period sub-Earth on a 7.7 hr orbit. With the aim of improving the planetary mass and radius and unveiling the inner architecture of the system, we performed an intensive radial velocity follow-up campaign with the HARPS spectrograph—collecting 371 high-precision measurements over a baseline of nearly 3 yr—and combined our Doppler measurements with new TESS observations from sectors 35 and 36. We found that GJ 367 b has a mass of M b = 0.633 ± 0.050 M ⊕ and a radius of R b = 0.699 ± 0.024 R ⊕, corresponding to precisions of 8% and 3.4%, respectively. This implies a planetary bulk density of ρ b = 10.2 ± 1.3 g cm−3, i.e., 85% higher than Earth’s density. We revealed the presence of two additional non-transiting low-mass companions with orbital periods of ∼11.5 and 34 days and minimum masses of M c sin i c = 4.13 ± 0.36 M ⊕ and M d sin i d = 6.03 ± 0.49 M ⊕, respectively, which lie close to the 3:1 mean motion commensurability. GJ 367 b joins the small class of high-density planets, namely the class of super-Mercuries, being the densest ultra-short period small planet known to date. Thanks to our precise mass and radius estimates, we explored the potential internal composition and structure of GJ 367 b, and found that it is expected to have an iron core with a mass fraction of 0.91 − 0.23 + 0.07 . How this iron core is formed and how such a high density is reached is still not clear, and we discuss the possible pathways of formation of such a small ultra-dense planet.

Författare

E. Goffo

Universita degli Studi di Torino

Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg

D. Gandolfi

Universita degli Studi di Torino

J. A. Egger

Universität Bern

A. J. Mustill

Lunds universitet

Simon Albrecht

Aarhus Universitet

T. Hirano

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

National Institutes of Natural Sciences

Oleg Kochukhov

Uppsala universitet

N. Astudillo-Defru

Universidad Catolica de la Santisima Concepcion

O. Barragán

University of Oxford

L. M. Serrano

Universita degli Studi di Torino

A. Hatzes

Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg

Y. Alibert

Universität Bern

E. W. Guenther

Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg

F. Dai

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

K. W.F. Lam

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Szilárd Csizmadia

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

A. M.S. Smith

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

L. Fossati

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

R. Luque

University of Chicago

F. Rodler

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Mark L. Winther

Aarhus Universitet

Jakob L. Rørsted

Aarhus Universitet

Javier Alarcon

European Southern Observatory Santiago

X. Bonfils

Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG)

William D. Cochran

The University of Texas at Austin

H. Deeg

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

Universidad de la Laguna

Jon M. Jenkins

NASA Ames Research Center

Judith Korth

Lunds universitet

J.H. Livingston

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

National Institutes of Natural Sciences

The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)

Annabella Meech

University of Oxford

F. Murgas

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

Universidad de la Laguna

J. Orell-Miquel

Universidad de la Laguna

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

H. L.M. Osborne

University College London (UCL)

Enric Palle

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

Universidad de la Laguna

Carina Persson

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik

S. Redfield

Wesleyan University

George R. Ricker

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

S. Seager

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Roland K. Vanderspek

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Vincent Van Eylen

University College London (UCL)

J. N. Winn

Princeton University

Astrophysical Journal Letters

2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)

Vol. 955 1 L3

Ämneskategorier

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

DOI

10.3847/2041-8213/ace0c7

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2023-10-17