No Evidence for Additional Planets at GJ 3470 from TESS and Archival Radial Velocities

TL;DR

This study uses TESS photometry and radial velocity data to rigorously test claims of additional planets orbiting GJ 3470, ultimately finding no supporting evidence for their existence.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis ruling out the presence of previously claimed additional planets around GJ 3470 using existing observational data.

Findings

No compelling signals at claimed planetary periods in radial velocity data

TESS photometry rules out transiting planets at these periods

Available data conclusively exclude the existence of the proposed additional planets

Abstract

The nearby M2 dwarf GJ 3470 has been the target of considerable interest after the discovery of a transiting short-period Neptune-sized planet. Recently, claims regarding the existence of additional transiting planets has gotten some attention, suggesting both the presence of a gas giant in the habitable zone, and that the system hosts a remarkable co-orbital gas giant configuration. We show that the existence of these three additional planets are readily amenable to testing with available data from both ground-based radial velocity data and space-based TESS photometry. A periodogram search of the available radial velocities show no compelling signals at the claimed periods, and the TESS photometry effectively rules out these planets assuming a transiting configuration. While it is doubtlessly possible that additional planets orbit GJ 3470, there is no evidence to date for their existence, and the available data conclusively rule out any planets similar to those considered in this text.