A transmission spectrum of the planet candidate WD 1856+534 b and a lower limit to its mass

Alonso, R.; Rodríguez-Gil, P.; Izquierdo, P.; Deeg, H. J.; Lodieu, N.; Cabrera-Lavers, A.; Hollands, M. A.; Pérez-Toledo, F. M.; Castro-Rodríguez, N.; Reverte Payá, D.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Advertised on:
5
2021
Number of authors
10
IAC number of authors
9
Citations
10
Refereed citations
8
Description
The cool white dwarf WD 1856+534 was found to be transited by a Jupiter-sized object with a mass at or below 14 MJup. We used the GTC telescope to obtain and analyse the photometry and low-resolution spectroscopy of six transits of WD 1856+534 b, with the intention of deriving the slope of the transmission spectrum. Such a slope, assuming a cloud-free atmosphere dominated by Rayleigh scattering of the particles in its atmosphere, could be translated into an estimation of the mass of WD 1856+534 b. However, the resultant transmission spectrum is essentially flat and therefore permits only the determination of lower mass limits of 2.4 MJup at the 2σ level, or 1.6 MJup at 3σ. These limits have implications for some of the formation scenarios proposed for the object. We elaborate on the potential effects of clouds and hazes in our estimations, based on previous studies of Jupiter and Titan. In addition, we detected an Hα absorption feature in the combined spectrum of the host white dwarf, which leads to the assignation of a DA classification and allows the derivation of an independent set of atmospheric parameters. Furthermore, the epochs of five transits were measured with sub-second precision, which demonstrates that additional objects more massive than ≈5 MJup and with periods longer than O(100) days could be detected through the light-time effect.

Based on observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), on the island of La Palma at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the IAC, under Director's Discretionary Time GTC2020-144.

Related projects
Representación de la variable cataclísmica SS Cygni (Chris Moran)
Binary Stars
The study of binary stars is essential to stellar astrophysics. A large number of stars form and evolve within binary systems. Therefore, their study is fundamental to understand stellar and galactic evolution. Particularly relevant is that binary systems are still the best source of precise stellar mass and radius measurements. Research lines
Pablo
Rodríguez Gil
Discovery of a system of super-Earths orbiting the star HD 176986 with about 5.7 and 9.2 Earth masses.
Very Low Mass Stars, Brown Dwarfs and Planets
Our goal is to study the processes that lead to the formation of low mass stars, brown dwarfs and planets and to characterize the physical properties of these objects in various evolutionary stages. Low mass stars and brown dwarfs are likely the most numerous type of objects in our Galaxy but due to their low intrinsic luminosity they are not so
Rafael
Rebolo López
Helio and Asteroseismology
Helio and Astero-Seismology and Exoplanets Search
The principal objectives of this project are: 1) to study the structure and dynamics of the solar interior, 2) to extend this study to other stars, 3) to search for extrasolar planets using photometric methods (primarily by transits of their host stars) and their characterization (using radial velocity information) and 4) the study of the planetary
Savita
Mathur
Projects' name image
Exoplanets and Astrobiology
The search for life in the universe has been driven by recent discoveries of planets around other stars (known as exoplanets), becoming one of the most active fields in modern astrophysics. The growing number of new exoplanets discovered in recent years and the recent advance on the study of their atmospheres are not only providing new valuable
Enric
Pallé Bago