Investigating Transit Timing Variations in the Ultra-short Period Exoplanet WASP-19b

TL;DR

This paper analyzes transit timing variations in the ultra-short-period exoplanet WASP-19b using 14 years of data, concluding that apsidal precession and stellar activity likely explain the observed TTVs.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of TTVs in WASP-19b, demonstrating that apsidal precession and stellar activity are the primary causes, with extensive dataset integration and modeling.

Findings

TTVs are best explained by apsidal precession.

Stellar magnetic activity may also influence TTVs.

No definitive evidence for additional planetary companions.

Abstract

In this study, we present a comprehensive analysis of transit timing variations (TTVs) in the ultra-short-period gas giant WASP-19b, which orbits a G-type main-sequence star. Our analysis is based on a dataset comprising 204 transit light curves obtained from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the Exoplanet Transit Database (ETD), and the ExoClock project, supplemented by 18 publicly available light curves. Mid-transit times were extracted from these data, and an additional 98 mid-transit times compiled from the literature were incorporated, resulting in a combined dataset spanning approximately 14 years. After excluding light curves significantly impacted by stellar activity, such as starspot anomalies, the final dataset consisted of 252 high-quality mid-transit times. Initial inspection of the transit timing residuals using an apsidal precession model suggested the possible presence of an additional planetary companion. However, subsequent frequency analysis and sinusoidal model fitting indicate that the observed TTVs are more consistently explained by apsidal precession of WASP-19b's orbit. We also considered alternative mechanisms, including the Applegate mechanism and the Shklovskii effect. Our findings suggest that stellar magnetic activity, potentially linked to the Applegate mechanism, may also contribute to the observed timing variations. To further constrain the origin of the TTVs and assess the contributions of these mechanisms, continued high-precision photometric monitoring of the WASP-19 system is strongly recommended.