Homogeneous studies of transiting extrasolar planets. V. New results for 38 planets

TL;DR

This study provides revised physical properties for 38 transiting exoplanets, notably updating the radius of OGLE-TR-56's planet and analyzing data from Kepler and other surveys to improve understanding of planetary characteristics.

Contribution

It presents new homogeneous measurements for 38 exoplanets, including the first Kepler short-cadence results, and assesses systematic and statistical errors comprehensively.

Findings

Revised larger radius for OGLE-TR-56b, reducing its density.

Significant correlations between orbital period and surface gravity/mass.

Identification of planets with larger radii than previously reported.

Abstract

I measure the physical properties of 38 transiting extrasolar planetary systems, bringing the total number studied within the Homogeneous Studies project to 82. Transit light curves are modelled using JKTEBOP, with careful attention paid to limb darkening, eccentricity and third light. The physical properties of each system are obtained from the photometric parameters, published spectroscopic measurements and five sets of theoretical stellar model predictions. Statistical errors are assessed using Monte Carlo and residual-permutation algorithms and propagated via a perturbation algorithm. Systematic errors are estimated from the interagreement between results calculated using five theoretical stellar models. The headline result is a major upward revision of the radius of the planet in the OGLE-TR-56 system, from 1.23-1.38 Rjup to 1.734 +/- 0.051 +/- 0.029 Rjup (statistical and systematic errors, respectively). Its density is three times lower than previously thought. This change comes from the first complete analysis of published high-quality photometry. Significantly larger planetary radii are also found for Kepler-15, KOI-428, WASP-13, WASP-14 and WASP-21 compared to previous work. I present the first results based on Kepler short-cadence data for Kepler-14, Kepler-15 and KOI-135. More extensive long-cadence data s used to improve the measured properties of KOI-196, KOI-204, KOI-254, KOI-423 and KOI-428. Detailed analyses are given for HAT-P-3, HAT-P-6, HAT-P-9, HAT-P-14 and WASP-12, based on more extensive datasets than considered in previous studies. I revisit the correlations between orbital period and surface gravity, and orbital period and mass of the transiting planets, finding both to be significant at the 4 sigma level. I conclude by discussing the opportunities for follow-up observations, the sky positions and the discovery rate of the known transiting planets.