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A Search for Additional Planets in the NASA EPOXI Observations of the Exoplanet System GJ 436 by Ballard, Sarah; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Charbonneau, David; Deming, Drake; Holman, Matthew J.; Fabrycky, Daniel; A'Hearn, Michael F.; Wellnitz, Dennis D.; Barry, Richard K.; Kuchner, Marc J.; Livengood, Timothy A.; Hewagama, Tilak; Sunshine, Jessica M.; Hampton, Don L.; Lisse, Carey M.; Seager, Sara; Veverka, Joseph F. is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is A Search for Additional Planets in the NASA EPOXI Observations of the Exoplanet System GJ 436 about?

We present time series photometry of the M dwarf transiting exoplanet system GJ 436 obtained with the the EPOCh (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization) component of the NASA EPOXI mission. We conduct a search of the high-precision time series for additional planets around GJ 436, which could be revealed either directly through their photometric transits, or indirectly through the variations these second planets induce on the transits of the previously known planet. In the case of GJ 436, the presence of a second planet is perhaps indicated by the residual orbital eccentricity of the known hot Neptune companion. We find no candidate transits with significance higher than our detection limit. From Monte Carlo tests of the time series, we rule out transiting planets larger than 1.5 R_Earth interior to GJ 436b with 95% confidence, and larger than 1.25 R_Earth with 80% confidence. Assuming coplanarity of additional planets with the orbit of GJ 436b, we cannot expect that putative planets with orbital periods longer than about 3.4 days will transit. However, if such a planet were to transit, we rule out planets larger than 2.0 R_Earth with orbital periods less than 8.5 days

Author

Ballard, Sarah; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Charbonneau, David; Deming, Drake; Holman, Matthew J.; Fabrycky, Daniel; A'Hearn, Michael F.; Wellnitz, Dennis D.; Barry, Richard K.; Kuchner, Marc J.; Livengood, Timothy A.; Hewagama, Tilak; Sunshine, Jessica M.; Hampton, Don L.; Lisse, Carey M.; Seager, Sara; Veverka, Joseph F.

Published

2009

Language

EN