Surviving in the Hot-Neptune Desert: The Discovery of the Ultrahot Neptune TOI-3261b
Article
Nabbie, Emma, Huang, Chelsea X., Burt, Jennifer A., Armstrong, David J., Mamajek, Eric E., Adibekyan, Vardan, Sousa, Sérgio G., Lopez, Eric D., Thorngren, Daniel, Fernández, Jorge Fernández, Li, Gongjie, Jenkins, James S., Vines, Jose I., da Silva, João Gomes, Wittenmyer, Robert A., Bayliss, Daniel, Briceno, César, Collins, Karen A., Dumusque, Xavier, ..., Wohler, Bill. 2024. "Surviving in the Hot-Neptune Desert: The Discovery of the Ultrahot Neptune TOI-3261b." The Astronomical Journal. 168 (3). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad60be
| Article Title | Surviving in the Hot-Neptune Desert: The Discovery of the Ultrahot Neptune TOI-3261b |
|---|---|
| ERA Journal ID | 1048 |
| Article Category | Article |
| Authors | Nabbie, Emma, Huang, Chelsea X., Burt, Jennifer A., Armstrong, David J., Mamajek, Eric E., Adibekyan, Vardan, Sousa, Sérgio G., Lopez, Eric D., Thorngren, Daniel, Fernández, Jorge Fernández, Li, Gongjie, Jenkins, James S., Vines, Jose I., da Silva, João Gomes, Wittenmyer, Robert A., Bayliss, Daniel, Briceno, César, Collins, Karen A., Dumusque, Xavier, Horne, Keith, Keniger, Marcelo Aron F., Law, Nicholas, Lillo-Box, Jorge, Lu, Shang-Fei, Mann, Andrew W., Nielsen, Louise D., Osborn, Ares, Relles, Howard M., Rodriguez, José J., Bell, Juan Serrano, Srdoc, Gregor, Stockdale, Chris, Strøm, Paul A., Watkins, Cristilyn N., Wheatley, Peter J., Wright, Duncan J., Zhou, George, Ziegler, Carl, Ricker, George, Seager, Sara, Vanderspek, Roland, Winn, Joshua N., Jenkins, Jon M., Fausnaugh, Michael, Kunimoto, Michelle, Osborn, Hugh P., Quinn, Samuel N. and Wohler, Bill |
| Journal Title | The Astronomical Journal |
| Journal Citation | 168 (3) |
| Article Number | 132 |
| Number of Pages | 15 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing |
| Place of Publication | United States |
| ISSN | 0004-6256 |
| 1538-3881 | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad60be |
| Web Address (URL) | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ad60be |
| Abstract | The recent discoveries of Neptune-sized ultra-short-period planets (USPs) challenge existing planet formation theories. It is unclear whether these residents of the Hot Neptune Desert have similar origins to smaller, rocky USPs, or if this discrete population is evidence of a different formation pathway altogether. We report the discovery of TOI-3261b, an ultrahot Neptune with an orbital period P = 0.88 day. The host star is a V = 13.2 mag, slightly supersolar metallicity ([Fe/H] ?0.15), inactive K1.5 main-sequence star at d = 300 pc. Using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope, we find that TOI-3261b has a radius of 3.82 ? 0.35 + 0.42 R ?. Moreover, radial velocities from ESPRESSO and HARPS reveal a mass of 30.3 ? 2.4 + 2.2 M ?, more than twice the median mass of Neptune-sized planets on longer orbits. We investigate multiple mechanisms of mass loss that can reproduce the current-day properties of TOI-3261b, simulating the evolution of the planet via tidal stripping and photoevaporation. Thermal evolution models suggest that TOI-3261b should retain an envelope potentially enriched with volatiles constituting ?5% of its total mass. This is the second highest envelope mass fraction among ultrahot Neptunes discovered to date, making TOI-3261b an ideal candidate for atmospheric follow-up observations. © 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. |
| Keywords | Exoplanets; Radial velocity; Transits |
| Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
| ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 5101. Astronomical sciences |
| Byline Affiliations | University of Southern Queensland |
| California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States | |
| University of Warwick, United Kingdom | |
| University of Porto, Portugal | |
| University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom | |
| NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, United States | |
| Johns Hopkins University, United States | |
| Georgia Institute of Technology, United States | |
| Diego Portales University, Chile | |
| Centro de Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines (CATA), Chile | |
| Catholic University of the North, Chile | |
| Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile | |
| Center for Astrophysics Harvard and Smithsonian, United States | |
| University of Geneva, Switzerland | |
| University of St Andrews, United Kingdom | |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States | |
| Center for Astrobiology (CAB, CSIC-INTA), Spain | |
| Sun Yat-sen University, China | |
| Munich University Observatory, Germany | |
| McMaster University, Canada | |
| International Center for Advanced Studies (ICAS), Argentina | |
| Kotizarovci Observatory, Croatia | |
| Hazelwood Observatory, Australia | |
| Stephen F. Austin State University, United States | |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States | |
| Princeton University, United States | |
| NASA Ames Research Center, United States | |
| University of Bern, Switzerland | |
| SETI Institute, United States |
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