A tidally detached super Neptune on a strongly misaligned retrograde orbit

TL;DR

This study measures the high obliquity of TOI-1710 b, a super-Neptune with a retrograde orbit, providing evidence for high-eccentricity migration and planetary scattering as its formation history.

Contribution

First measurement of a highly misaligned retrograde orbit for a super-Neptune in the savanna region, challenging previous migration theories.

Findings

TOI-1710 b has a true obliquity of approximately 149 degrees.

The planet's orbit is retrograde and highly misaligned.

Results support a high-eccentricity migration origin for the planet.

Abstract

The obliquity between a planet's orbital axis and its host star's spin axis provides crucial insights into planetary formation and migration. Planets with scaled semi-major axes ($a/R_\star$) large enough to be unaffected by tidal alterations ("tidally detached"), offer a unique opportunity to study the original obliquity in which the system formed. We therefore observed TOI-1710 b ($a/R_\star \approx 36$) in-transit using HARPS-N + GIANO-B, collecting high-precision radial velocities to measure the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect. Spectral analysis of the H$\alpha$ and HeI triple lines was also pursued to evaluate atmospheric photoevaporation. Using our knowledge of the star rotation period ($21.5 \pm 0.2$ d), we estimated a true obliquity of $\psi = 149 ^{+11}_{-10}$ deg, which indicates a retrograde motion and places TOI-1710 b among the most misaligned systems -- and the only one known orbiting a cool star in retrograde motion. The strong misalignment favours a high-eccentricity migration (HEM) origin for this low-density super-Neptune planet in the savanna region, challenging previous findings that claimed a minor role of HEM in this period-radius(-density) domain. Moreover, the strong misalignment and lack of a detected close stellar companion suggests a purely planetary post-migration misalignment, likely due to planet-planet scattering followed by planet-planet Kozai-Lidov oscillations and tidal circularisation.