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The Apparently Decaying Orbit of WASP-12b

Author(s)
Patra, Kishore C.; Winn, Joshua N.; Holman, Matthew J.; Yu, Liang; Deming, Drake; Dai, Fei; ... Show more Show less
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Abstract
We present new transit and occultation times for the hot Jupiter WASP-12b. The data are compatible with a constant period derivative: P = -29 ± 3msyr ⁻¹ and P/P = 3.2 Myr. However, it is difficult to tell whether we have observed orbital decay or a portion of a 14-year apsidal precession cycle. If interpreted as decay, the star's tidal quality parameter All rights reserved. ∗ is about 2 × 10⁵. If interpreted as precession, the planet's Love number is 0.44 ± 0.10. Orbital decay appears to be the more parsimonious model: it is favored by Δx² = 5.5 despite having two fewer free parameters than the precession model. The decay model implies that WASP-12 was discovered within the final ∼0.2% of its existence, which is an unlikely coincidence but harmonizes with independent evidence that the planet is nearing disruption. Precession does not invoke any temporal coincidence, but it does require some mechanism to maintain an eccentricity of ≈0.002 in the face of rapid tidal circularization. To distinguish unequivocally between decay and precession will probably require a few more years of monitoring. Particularly helpful will be occultation timing in 2019 and thereafter.
Date issued
2017-06
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112274
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Journal
Astronomical Journal
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Patra, Kishore C., Joshua N. Winn, Matthew J. Holman, Liang Yu, Drake Deming, and Fei Dai. “The Apparently Decaying Orbit of WASP-12b.” The Astronomical Journal 154, 1 (June 2017): 4 © 2017 The American Astronomical Society
Version: Final published version
ISSN
1538-3881
0004-6256

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