TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME) IX: a 27 Myr extended population of Lower-Centaurus Crux with a transiting two-planet system

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a 27-million-year-old stellar population near Lower-Centaurus-Crux, including a two-planet system around HD 109833, expanding knowledge of young exoplanet systems and stellar associations.

Contribution

It identifies a new, older stellar population distinct from known LCC groups and confirms two transiting planets around HD 109833, with detailed characterization and validation.

Findings

Discovered a 27 Myr old stellar population near LCC.

Confirmed two transiting planets around HD 109833.

Found planetary-mass companions around other stars previously associated with younger LCC.

Abstract

We report the discovery and characterization of a nearby (~ 85 pc), older (27 +/- 3 Myr), distributed stellar population near Lower-Centaurus-Crux (LCC), initially identified by searching for stars co-moving with a candidate transiting planet from TESS (HD 109833; TOI 1097). We determine the association membership using Gaia kinematics, color-magnitude information, and rotation periods of candidate members. We measure it's age using isochrones, gyrochronology, and Li depletion. While the association is near known populations of LCC, we find that it is older than any previously found LCC sub-group (10-16 Myr), and distinct in both position and velocity. In addition to the candidate planets around HD 109833 the association contains four directly-imaged planetary-mass companions around 3 stars, YSES-1, YSES-2, and HD 95086, all of which were previously assigned membership in the younger LCC. Using the Notch pipeline, we identify a second candidate transiting planet around HD 109833. We use a suite of ground-based follow-up observations to validate the two transit signals as planetary in nature. HD 109833 b and c join the small but growing population of <100 Myr transiting planets from TESS. HD 109833 has a rotation period and Li abundance indicative of a young age (< 100 Myr), but a position and velocity on the outskirts of the new population, lower Li levels than similar members, and a CMD position below model predictions for 27 Myr. So, we cannot reject the possibility that HD 109833 is a young field star coincidentally nearby the population.