A giant planet candidate transiting a white dwarf

Andrew Vanderburg^{1

2}, Saul A Rappaport³, Siyi Xu⁴, Ian J M Crossfield⁵, Juliette C Becker⁶, Bruce Gary⁷, Felipe Murgas^{8

9}, Simon Blouin¹⁰, Thomas G Kaye^{11

12}, Enric Palle^{8

9}, Carl Melis¹³, Brett M Morris¹⁴, Laura Kreidberg^{15

16}, Varoujan Gorjian¹⁷, Caroline V Morley¹⁸, Andrew W Mann¹⁹, Hannu Parviainen^{8

9}, Logan A Pearce²⁰, Elisabeth R Newton²¹, Andreia Carrillo¹⁸, Ben Zuckerman²², Lorne Nelson²³, Greg Zeimann²⁴, Warren R Brown¹⁶, René Tronsgaard²⁵, Beth Klein²², George R Ricker³, Roland K Vanderspek³, David W Latham¹⁶, Sara Seager^{3

26

27}, Joshua N Winn²⁸, Jon M Jenkins²⁹, Fred C Adams^{30

31}, Björn Benneke^{32

33}, David Berardo³, Lars A Buchhave²⁵, Douglas A Caldwell^{29

34}, Jessie L Christiansen³⁵, Karen A Collins¹⁶, Knicole D Colón³⁶, Tansu Daylan³, John Doty³⁷, Alexandra E Doyle³⁸, Diana Dragomir³⁹, Courtney Dressing⁴⁰, Patrick Dufour^{32

33}, Akihiko Fukui^{8

41}, Ana Glidden^{3

26}, Natalia M Guerrero³, Xueying Guo³, Kevin Heng¹⁴, Andreea I Henriksen²⁵, Chelsea X Huang³, Lisa Kaltenegger^{42

43}, Stephen R Kane⁴⁴, John A Lewis¹⁶, Jack J Lissauer²⁹, Farisa Morales^{17

45}, Norio Narita^{8

46

47

48

49}, Joshua Pepper⁵⁰, Mark E Rose²⁹, Jeffrey C Smith^{29

34}, Keivan G Stassun^{51

52}, Liang Yu^{3

53}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. avanderburg@wisc.edu.
² Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. avanderburg@wisc.edu.
³ Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ NSF's NOIRLab/Gemini Observatory, Hilo, HI, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
⁶ Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
⁷ Hereford Arizona Observatory, Hereford, AZ, USA.
⁸ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain.
⁹ Departamento Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Tenerife, Spain.
¹⁰ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
¹¹ Raemor Vista Observatory, Sierra Vista, AZ, USA.
¹² Laboratory for Space Research, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹³ Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
¹⁴ Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
¹⁵ Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁶ Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁷ NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
²⁰ Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
²² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
²³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
²⁴ Hobby-Eberly Telescope, University of Texas, Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
²⁵ DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
²⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
²⁷ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
²⁸ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
²⁹ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
³⁰ Physics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³¹ Astronomy Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³² Départment de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
³³ Institut de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes (iREx), Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
³⁴ SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA.
³⁵ Caltech/IPAC-NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Pasadena, CA, USA.
³⁶ Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory (Code 667), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
³⁷ Noqsi Aerospace, Billerica, MA, USA.
³⁸ Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁴⁰ Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁴¹ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴² Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
⁴³ Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Ithaca, NY, USA.
⁴⁴ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
⁴⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Moorpark College, Moorpark, CA, USA.
⁴⁶ Astrobiology Center, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴⁷ PRESTO, JST, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴⁸ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴⁹ Komaba Institute for Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵⁰ Department of Physics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
⁵¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁵² Department of Physics, Fisk University, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁵³ ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions, Spring, TX, USA.

PMID: 32939071
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2713-y

A giant planet candidate transiting a white dwarf

Andrew Vanderburg et al. Nature. 2020 Sep.

. 2020 Sep;585(7825):363-367.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2713-y. Epub 2020 Sep 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. avanderburg@wisc.edu.
² Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. avanderburg@wisc.edu.
³ Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ NSF's NOIRLab/Gemini Observatory, Hilo, HI, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
⁶ Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
⁷ Hereford Arizona Observatory, Hereford, AZ, USA.
⁸ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain.
⁹ Departamento Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Tenerife, Spain.
¹⁰ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
¹¹ Raemor Vista Observatory, Sierra Vista, AZ, USA.
¹² Laboratory for Space Research, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹³ Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
¹⁴ Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
¹⁵ Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁶ Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁷ NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
²⁰ Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
²² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
²³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
²⁴ Hobby-Eberly Telescope, University of Texas, Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
²⁵ DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
²⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
²⁷ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
²⁸ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
²⁹ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
³⁰ Physics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³¹ Astronomy Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³² Départment de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
³³ Institut de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes (iREx), Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
³⁴ SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA.
³⁵ Caltech/IPAC-NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Pasadena, CA, USA.
³⁶ Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory (Code 667), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
³⁷ Noqsi Aerospace, Billerica, MA, USA.
³⁸ Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁴⁰ Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁴¹ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴² Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
⁴³ Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Ithaca, NY, USA.
⁴⁴ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
⁴⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Moorpark College, Moorpark, CA, USA.
⁴⁶ Astrobiology Center, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴⁷ PRESTO, JST, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴⁸ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴⁹ Komaba Institute for Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵⁰ Department of Physics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
⁵¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁵² Department of Physics, Fisk University, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁵³ ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions, Spring, TX, USA.

PMID: 32939071
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2713-y

Abstract

Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets outside the Solar System¹, most of which orbit stars that will eventually evolve into red giants and then into white dwarfs. During the red giant phase, any close-orbiting planets will be engulfed by the star², but more distant planets can survive this phase and remain in orbit around the white dwarf^3,4. Some white dwarfs show evidence for rocky material floating in their atmospheres⁵, in warm debris disks^6-9 or orbiting very closely^10-12, which has been interpreted as the debris of rocky planets that were scattered inwards and tidally disrupted¹³. Recently, the discovery of a gaseous debris disk with a composition similar to that of ice giant planets¹⁴ demonstrated that massive planets might also find their way into tight orbits around white dwarfs, but it is unclear whether these planets can survive the journey. So far, no intact planets have been detected in close orbits around white dwarfs. Here we report the observation of a giant planet candidate transiting the white dwarf WD 1856+534 (TIC 267574918) every 1.4 days. We observed and modelled the periodic dimming of the white dwarf caused by the planet candidate passing in front of the star in its orbit. The planet candidate is roughly the same size as Jupiter and is no more than 14 times as massive (with 95 per cent confidence). Other cases of white dwarfs with close brown dwarf or stellar companions are explained as the consequence of common-envelope evolution, wherein the original orbit is enveloped during the red giant phase and shrinks owing to friction. In this case, however, the long orbital period (compared with other white dwarfs with close brown dwarf or stellar companions) and low mass of the planet candidate make common-envelope evolution less likely. Instead, our findings for the WD 1856+534 system indicate that giant planets can be scattered into tight orbits without being tidally disrupted, motivating the search for smaller transiting planets around white dwarfs.

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Comment in

Planet discovered transiting a dead star.
Parsons S. Parsons S. Nature. 2020 Sep;585(7825):354-355. doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-02555-3. Nature. 2020. PMID: 32939062 No abstract available.

References

1. Akeson, R. L. et al. The NASA Exoplanet Archive: data and tools for exoplanet research. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacif. 125, 989–999 (2013).
1. Villaver, E. & Livio, M. The orbital evolution of gas giant planets around giant stars. Astrophys. J. Lett. 705, 81–85 (2009).
1. Luhman, K. L., Burgasser, A. J. & Bochanski, J. J. Discovery of a candidate for the coolest known brown dwarf. Astrophys. J. Lett. 730, 9 (2011).
1. Marsh, T. R. et al. The planets around NN Serpentis: still there. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 475–488 (2014).
1. Jura, M. A tidally disrupted asteroid around the white dwarf G29–38. Astrophys. J. Lett. 584, 91–94 (2003).

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A giant planet candidate transiting a white dwarf

Affiliations

A giant planet candidate transiting a white dwarf

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Comment in

References

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