Then and now: A new look at the eclipse timing variations of hierarchical triple star candidates in the primordial $Kepler$-field, revisited by TESS

TL;DR

This study reanalyzes Kepler eclipsing binaries with TESS data to confirm, refine, and discover hierarchical triple star systems, revealing 243 candidates and 50 new longer-period triples, enhancing understanding of their dynamics.

Contribution

It extends previous analyses by incorporating TESS data, confirming earlier findings, refining orbital parameters, and identifying new long-period triple star candidates in the Kepler field.

Findings

Confirmed 243 triple star candidates in Kepler data.

Identified 50 new longer-period triple systems.

Improved orbital parameters for known triples.

Abstract

In this paper we reanalyze the extended ETV curves of the formerly identified triple star candidates and many other $Kepler$ EBs. Besides the confirmations of the former findings and/or the improvements of the triple systems' orbital properties, the extended time-base allows us to identify several new, longer outer period triple systems, and it also makes possible a more detailed study of the dynamical perturbations in the tightest triple stars. We extend the ETV curves of the $Kepler$ triples with those mid-eclipse times which can be deduced from the TESS observations and, moreover, from targeted ground-based follow up observations for a number of the objects. In general, we use the same methods that were applied for the older studies, which are described in the literature. Due to the lower quality of the TESS observations, however, for the fainter systems we average light curves of the EBs for 5-20 consecutive cycles, and thereby calculate `normal' minima from these averaged light curves. In conclusion, we identified 243 hierarchical triple star candidates in the $Kepler$ sample. This sample strongly overlaps our former, nine-year-old sample, confirming the older results, or providing new solutions for 193 systems of the 2016 sample. For the remaining 28 hierarchical triple candidates of that former study, we were unable to find new solutions either because of the disappearance of the eclipses due to orbital plane precession, or due to instrumental reasons. On the other hand, due to the extended time series, we were able to identify 50 new, longer period triple star candidates, as well. We briefly discuss the main properties of each individual system and present statistical studies of the results, as well.