TOI-332 b: a super dense Neptune found deep within the Neptunian desert
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023

To date, thousands of planets have been discovered, but there are regions of the orbital parameter space that are still bare. An example is the short period and intermediate mass/radius space known as the 'Neptunian desert', where planets should be easy to find but discoveries remain few. This suggests unusual formation and evolution processes are responsible for the planets residing here. We present the discovery of TOI-332 b, a planet with an ultra-short period of 0.78 d that sits firmly within the desert. It orbits a K0 dwarf with an effective temperature of 5251 ± 71 K. TOI-332 b has a radius of R, smaller than that of Neptune, but an unusually large mass of 57.2 ± 1.6 M. It has one of the highest densities of any Neptune-sized planet discovered thus far at g cm-3. A 4-layer internal structure model indicates it likely has a negligible hydrogen-helium envelope, something only found for a small handful of planets this massive, and so TOI-332 b presents an interesting challenge to planetary formation theories. We find that photoevaporation cannot account for the mass-loss required to strip this planet of the Jupiter-like envelope it would have been expected to accrete. We need to look towards other scenarios, such as high-eccentricity migration, giant impacts, or gap opening in the protoplanetary disc, to try and explain this unusual discovery.

planets and satellites: detection

planets and satellites: individual: (TOI-332, TIC 139285832)

Författare

A. Osborn

The University of Warwick

D. J. Armstrong

The University of Warwick

Jorge Fernández Fernández

The University of Warwick

Henrik Knierim

Universität Zürich

V. Adibekyan

Universidade do Porto

Karen A. Collins

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

E. Delgado Mena

Universidade do Porto

Malcolm Fridlund

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

J. Gomes da Silva

Universidade do Porto

Coel Hellier

Keele University

David G. Jackson

Queen's University Belfast

George W King

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

University of Michigan

J. Lillo-Box

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

Rachel A. Matson

US Naval Observatory

Elisabeth Matthews

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

N. C. Santos

Universidade do Porto

S.G. Sousa

Universidade do Porto

Keivan G. Stassun

Vanderbilt University

Thiam Guan Tan

Perth Exoplanet Survey Telescope

George R. Ricker

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Roland K. Vanderspek

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

D. W. Latham

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

S. Seager

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

J. N. Winn

Princeton University

Jon M. Jenkins

NASA Ames Research Center

D. Bayliss

The University of Warwick

L. Bouma

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

D. R. Ciardi

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Kevin I. Collins

George Mason University

K. D. Colón

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

I. J.M. Crossfield

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

O. Demangeon

Universidade do Porto

R. F. Diaz

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas

C. Dorn

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

X. Dumusque

Université de Genève

Marcelo Aron Fetzner Keniger

The University of Warwick

P. Figueira

Université de Genève

Universidade do Porto

Tianjun Gan

Tsinghua University

Robert Goeke

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A. Hadjigeorghiou

The University of Warwick

F. Hawthorn

The University of Warwick

R. Helled

Universität Zürich

S.B. Howell

NASA Ames Research Center

L. D. Nielsen

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

H. P. Osborn

Universität Bern

Samuel N. Quinn

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Ramotholo Sefako

South African Astronomical Observatory

Avi Shporer

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

P. A. Strøm

The University of Warwick

J. D. Twicken

NASA Ames Research Center

SETI Institute

A. Vanderburg

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

P. J. Wheatley

The University of Warwick

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 526 1 548-566

Ämneskategorier

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

Annan fysik

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stad2575

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2023-10-31