A Radial Velocity Study of the Planetary System of Pi Mensae: Improved Planet Parameters for PI Mensae c and a Third Planet on a 125-d Orbit

TL;DR

This study refines the parameters of Pi Mensae's known planets and discovers a new third planet, providing valuable insights into the system's dynamics and potential for atmospheric research.

Contribution

The paper presents improved measurements for Pi Mensae c and reports the detection of a third planet, Pi Men d, with detailed orbital and physical parameters.

Findings

Pi Men c has a mass of 3.63 Earth masses and a radius of 2.145 Earth radii.

A third planet, Pi Men d, with a 125-day orbit and minimum mass of 13.38 Earth masses, was discovered.

The system's orbital configuration is stable over at least 20 million years.

Abstract

Pi Men hosts a transiting planet detected by the TESS space mission and an outer planet in a 5.7-yr orbit discovered by RV surveys. We studied this system using new radial velocity (RV) measurements taken with the HARPS spectrograph on ESO's 3.6-m telescope as well as archival data. We constrain the stellar RV semi-amplitude due to the transiting planet, Pi Men c, as K_c = 1.21 +/- 0.12 m/s resulting in a planet mass of M_c = 3.63 +/- 0.38 M_Earth. A planet radius of R_c= 2.145 +/- 0.015 R_Earth yields a bulk density of rho = 2.03 +/- 0.22 g/cm^{-3}. The precisely determined density of this planet and the brightness of the host star make Pi Men c an excellent laboratory for internal structure and atmospheric characterization studies. Our HARPS RV measurements also reveal compelling evidence for a third body, PI Men d, with a minimum mass M sin i = 13.38 +/- 1.35 M_Earth orbiting with a period of P_d = 125 d on an eccentric orbit (e = 0.22). A simple dynamical analysis indicates that the orbit of Pi Men d is stable on timescales of at least 20 Myrs. Given the mutual inclination between the outer gaseous giant and the inner rocky planet and the presence of a third body at 125 d, Pi Men is an important planetary system for dynamical and formation studies.