TOI-5205 b: A Short-period Jovian Planet Transiting a Mid-M Dwarf

TL;DR

TOI-5205 b is a Jupiter-sized exoplanet transiting a mid-M dwarf star, notable for its large transit depth and challenging planet formation theories, discovered through combined photometric and spectroscopic methods.

Contribution

This is the first transiting Jupiter-sized planet with a mass measurement around a low-mass M dwarf star, expanding understanding of planet formation around such stars.

Findings

High planetary mass ratio (~0.3%) for an M dwarf planet.

Deep transit depth (~7%) enabling atmospheric studies.

Challenges to conventional planet formation theories.

Abstract

We present the discovery of TOI-5205~b, a transiting Jovian planet orbiting a solar metallicity M4V star, which was discovered using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite photometry and then confirmed using a combination of precise radial velocities, ground-based photometry, spectra, and speckle imaging. TOI-5205~b has one of the highest mass ratios for M dwarf planets with a mass ratio of almost 0.3$\%$, as it orbits a host star that is just $0.392 \pm 0.015$ \solmass{}. Its planetary radius is $1.03 \pm 0.03~R_J$, while the mass is $1.08 \pm 0.06~M_J$. Additionally, the large size of the planet orbiting a small star results in a transit depth of $\sim 7\%$, making it one of the deepest transits of a confirmed exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star. The large transit depth makes TOI-5205~b a compelling target to probe its atmospheric properties, as a means of tracing the potential formation pathways. While there have been radial-velocity-only discoveries of giant planets around mid-M dwarfs, this is the first transiting Jupiter with a mass measurement discovered around such a low-mass host star. The high mass of TOI-5205~b stretches conventional theories of planet formation and disk scaling relations that cannot easily recreate the conditions required to form such planets.