The Detection and Characterization of a Nontransiting Planet by Transit Timing Variations

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of a nontransiting exoplanet through transit timing variations in the Kepler data, revealing a multi-planet system with near-resonant orbits and a super-Earth candidate.

Contribution

It introduces a method to detect nontransiting planets using transit timing variations and applies it to identify a new planet in the Kepler data.

Findings

Detection of a nontransiting planet near 5:3 resonance

Identification of a super-Earth candidate with 6.8-day period

System with nearly coplanar, circular orbits

Abstract

The Kepler Mission is monitoring the brightness of ~150,000 stars searching for evidence of planetary transits. As part of the "Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler" (HEK) project, we report a planetary system with two confirmed planets and one candidate planet discovered using the publicly available data for KOI-872. Planet b transits the host star with a period P_b=33.6d and exhibits large transit timing variations indicative of a perturber. Dynamical modeling uniquely detects an outer nontransiting planet c near the 5:3 resonance (P_c=57.0d) of mass 0.37 times that of Jupiter. Transits of a third planetary candidate are also found: a 1.7-Earth radius super-Earth with a 6.8d period. Our analysis indicates a system with nearly coplanar and circular orbits, reminiscent of the orderly arrangement within the solar system.