Long-Term Transit Timing Monitoring and Refined Light Curve Parameters of HAT-P-13b

TL;DR

This study presents 22 transit light curves of HAT-P-13b over four seasons, refines system parameters, and finds no significant transit timing variations except for one anomalous event, suggesting system stability.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis combining new and existing data to refine parameters and assess transit timing variations of HAT-P-13b.

Findings

Transit times mostly follow a linear ephemeris.

One transit deviates significantly from expected timing.

No conclusive evidence of large-amplitude TTVs.

Abstract

We present 10 new transit light curves of the transiting hot Jupiter HAT-P-13b, obtained during two observational seasons by three different telescopes. When combined with 12 previously published light curves, we have a sample consisting of 22 transit light curves, spanning 1,041 days across four observational seasons. We use this sample to examine the recently observed large-amplitude transit timing variations (P\'al et al. 2011), and give refined system parameters. We find that the transit times are consistent with a linear ephemeris, with the exception of a single transit time, from UT 2009 Nov 5, for which the measured mid transit time significantly deviates from our linear ephemeris. The nature of this deviation is not clear, and the rest of the data does not show any significant transit timing variation.