Periastron Precession Measurements in Transiting Extrasolar Planetary Systems at the Level of General Relativity

TL;DR

This paper explores how long-term observations of transiting exoplanets can detect orbital precession caused by general relativity, with transit duration variations offering a highly sensitive measurement method.

Contribution

It demonstrates that transit duration variations can significantly improve the detection sensitivity of orbital precession due to general relativity in transiting exoplanets.

Findings

TDV measurements can detect precession rates exceeding GR predictions

Long-term observations over ~4 years are sufficient for precise detection

Transit duration variations outperform transit timing variations in sensitivity

Abstract

Transiting exoplanetary systems are surpassingly important among the planetary systems since they provide the widest spectrum of information for both the planet and the host star. If a transiting planet is on an eccentric orbit, the duration of transits T_D is sensitive to the orientation of the orbital ellipse relative to the line of sight. The precession of the orbit results in a systematic variation in both the duration of individual transit events and the observed period between successive transits, P_obs. The periastron of the ellipse slowly precesses due to general relativity and possibly the presence of other planets in the system. This secular precession can be detected through the long-term change in P_obs (transit timing variations, TTV) or in T_D (transit duration variations, TDV). We estimate the corresponding precession measurement precision for repeated future observations of the known eccentric transiting exoplanetary systems (XO-3b, HD 147506b, GJ 436b and HD 17156b) using existing or planned space-borne instruments. The TDV measurement improves the precession detection sensitivity by orders of magnitude over the TTV measurement. We find that TDV measurements over a ~4 year period can typically detect the precession rate to a precision well exceeding the level predicted by general relativity.