Vetting of 384 TESS Objects of Interest with TRICERATOPS and Statistical Validation of 12 Planet Candidates
Author(s)
Ricker, George R; Vanderspek, Roland K; Seager, Sara; Guerrero, Natalia M.; Shporer, Abraham-Avi
DownloadPublished version (2.920Mb)
Publisher Policy
Publisher Policy
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Terms of use
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present TRICERATOPS, a new Bayesian tool that can be used to vet and validate TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs). We test the tool on 68 TOIs that have been previously confirmed as planets or rejected as astrophysical false positives. By looking in the false-positive probability (FPP)-nearby false-positive probability (NFPP) plane, we define criteria that TOIs must meet to be classified as validated planets (FPP < 0.015 and NFPP < 10-3), likely planets (FPP < 0.5 and NFPP < 10-3), and likely nearby false positives (NFPP > 10-1). We apply this procedure on 384 unclassified TOIs and statistically validate 12, classify 125 as likely planets, and classify 52 as likely nearby false positives. Of the 12 statistically validated planets, 9 are newly validated. TRICERATOPS is currently the only TESS vetting and validation tool that models transits from nearby contaminant stars in addition to the target star. We therefore encourage use of this tool to prioritize follow-up observations that confirm bona fide planets and identify false positives originating from nearby stars.
Date issued
2020Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and AstronauticsJournal
Astronomical Journal
Publisher
American Astronomical Society