The Mass of KOI-94d and a Relation for Planet Radius, Mass, and Incident Flux

TL;DR

This study measures the mass of the exoplanet KOI-94d, finds it is not inflated despite high incident flux, and establishes new empirical relations connecting planet mass, radius, and incident flux across a wide range of exoplanets.

Contribution

The paper introduces two fundamental planes relating exoplanet mass, radius, and incident flux, based on new measurements and analysis of 138 exoplanets, including KOI-94d.

Findings

KOI-94d is a dense, non-inflated giant planet.

Established empirical relations for exoplanet mass, radius, and incident flux.

Provided mass constraints for KOI-94b, c, and e.

Abstract

We measure the mass of a modestly irradiated giant planet, KOI-94d. We wish to determine whether this planet, which is in a 22-day orbit and receives 2700 times as much incident flux as Jupiter, is as dense as Jupiter or rarefied like inflated hot Jupiters. KOI-94 also hosts 3 smaller transiting planets, all of which were detected by the Kepler Mission. With 26 radial velocities of KOI-94 from the W. M. Keck Observatory and a simultaneous fit to the Kepler light curve, we measure the mass of the giant planet and determine that it is not inflated. Support for the planetary interpretation of the other three candidates comes from gravitational interactions through transit timing variations, the statistical robustness of multi-planet systems against false positives, and several lines of evidence that no other star resides within the photometric aperture. The radial velocity analyses of KOI-94b and KOI-94e offer marginal (>2\sigma) mass detections, whereas the observations of KOI-94c offer only an upper limit to its mass. Using the KOI-94 system and other planets with published values for both mass and radius (138 exoplanets total, including 35 with M < 150 Earth masses), we establish two fundamental planes for exoplanets that relate their mass, incident flux, and radius from a few Earth masses up to ten Jupiter masses. These equations can be used to predict the radius or mass of a planet.