Refining the Masses and Radii of the Star Kepler-33 and its Five Transiting Planets

TL;DR

This study refines the masses and radii of Kepler-33's five planets using transit timing variations, Gaia data, and photodynamical modeling, revealing their densities, compositions, and orbital characteristics.

Contribution

It provides the first well-constrained masses and densities for Kepler-33's planets, combining photodynamical analysis with Gaia data to improve stellar and planetary parameters.

Findings

Kepler-33 e and f have high envelope mass fractions (~7-10%).

Planets d, e, and f have low bulk densities (<0.4 to 0.8 g/cm^3).

Transit timing variations constrain planetary eccentricities and masses.

Abstract

Kepler-33 hosts five validated transiting planets ranging in period from 5 to 41 days. The planets are in nearly co-planar orbits and exhibit remarkably similar (appropriately scaled) transit durations indicative of similar impact parameters. The outer three planets have radii of $3.5\lesssim R_{\rm p}/R_\oplus\lesssim4.7$ and are closely-packed dynamically, and thus transit timing variations can be observed. Photodynamical analysis of transit timing variations provide $2\sigma$ upper bounds on the eccentricity of the orbiting planets (ranging from $<0.02$ to $<0.2$) and the mean density of the host-star ($0.39_{-0.02}^{+0.01}\,{\rm g/cm^3}$). We combine \emph{Gaia} Early Data Release 3 parallax observations, the previously reported host-star effective temperature and metallicity, and our photodynamical model to refine properties of the host-star and the transiting planets. Our analysis yields well-constrained masses for Kepler-33~e ($6.6_{-1.0}^{+1.1}\,M_\oplus$) and f ($8.2_{-1.2}^{+1.6}\,M_\oplus$) along with $2\sigma$ upper limits for planets c ($<19\,M_\oplus$) and d ($<8.2\,M_\oplus$). We confirm the reported low bulk densities of planet d ($<0.4\,{\rm g/cm^3}$), e ($0.8\pm0.1\,{\rm g/cm^3}$), and f ($0.7\pm0.1\,{\rm g/cm^3}$). Based on comparisons with planetary evolution models, we find that Kepler-33~e and f exhibit relatively high envelope mass fractions of $f_{\rm env}=7.0_{-0.5}^{+0.6}\%$ and $f_{\rm env}=10.3\pm0.6\%$, respectively. Assuming a mass for planet d $\sim4\,M_\oplus$ suggests that it has $f_{\rm env}\gtrsim12\%$.