HD 110067 c has an aligned orbit

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the orbital alignment of planet c in the HD 110067 system, finding it to be well aligned, which suggests a migration history without major disruptions, and reports transit-timing variations in the system.

Contribution

It provides the first measurement of the sky-projected obliquity of HD 110067 c, revealing a well-aligned orbit and insights into the system's dynamical history.

Findings

Orbit of HD 110067 c is aligned with a sky-projected obliquity of 6+24-26 degrees.

Detected a 19-minute transit-timing variation in the system.

System likely reached its current architecture through convergent migration.

Abstract

Planetary systems in mean motion resonances hold a special place among the planetary population. They allow us to study planet formation in great detail as dissipative processes are thought to have played an important role in their existence. Additionally, planetary masses in bright resonant systems may be independently measured both by radial velocities (RVs) and transit timing variations (TTVs). In principle, they also allow us to quickly determine the inclination of all planets in the system, as for the system to be stable, they are likely all in coplanar orbits. To describe the full dynamical state of the system, we also need the stellar obliquity that provides the orbital alignment of a planet with respect to the spin of their host star and can be measured thanks to the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. It was recently discovered that HD 110067 harbours a system of six sub-Neptunes in resonant chain orbits. We here analyze an ESPRESSO high-resolution spectroscopic time series of HD 110067 during the transit of planet c. We find the orbit of HD 110067 c to be well aligned with sky projected obliquity $\lambda =6^{+24}_{-26}$ deg. This result is indicative that the current architecture of the system has been reached through convergent migration without any major disruptive events. Finally, we report transit-timing variation in this system as we find a significant offset of 19 $\pm$ 4 minutes in the center of the transit compared to the published ephemeris.