[en] The dynamical history of stars influences the formation and evolution of planets significantly. To explore the influence of dynamical history on the planet formation and evolution using observations, we assume stars that experienced significantly different dynamical histories tend to have different relative velocities. Utilizing the accurate Gaia–Kepler Stellar Properties Catalog, we select single main-sequence stars and divide these stars into three groups according to their relative velocities, i.e., high-V, medium-V, and low-V stars. After considering the known biases from Kepler data and adopting prior and posterior correction to minimize the influence of stellar properties on planet occurrence rate, we find that high-V stars have a lower occurrence rate of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes (1–4 R _⊕, P < 100 days) and a higher occurrence rate of sub-Earth (0.5–1 R _⊕, P < 30 days) than low-V stars. Additionally, high-V stars have a lower occurrence rate of hot Jupiter-sized planets (4–20 R _⊕, P < 10 days) and a slightly higher occurrence rate of warm or cold Jupiter-sized planets (4–20 R _⊕, 10 < P < 400 days). After investigating multiplicity and eccentricity, we find that high-V planet hosts prefer a higher fraction of multiplanet systems and lower average eccentricity, which are consistent with the eccentricity–multiplicity dichotomy of Kepler planetary systems. All of these statistical results favor the scenario that high-V stars with large relative velocity may experience fewer gravitational events, while low-V stars may be influenced by stellar clustering significantly.

[en] Transit times around single stars can be described well by a linear ephemeris. However, transit times in circumbinary systems are influenced both by the gravitational perturbations and the orbital phase variations of the central binary star. Adopting a coplanar analog of Kepler-16 as an example, we find that circumbinary planets can transit the same star more than once during a single planetary orbit, a phenomenon we call 'tight transits.' In certain geometric architecture, the projected orbital velocity of the planet and the secondary star can approach zero and change sign, resulting in very long transits and/or 2-3 transits during a single binary orbit. Whether tight transits are possible for a particular system depends primarily on the binary mass ratio and the orbital architecture of both the binary and the planet. We derive a time-dependent criterion to judge when tight transits are possible for any circumbinary system. These results are verified with full dynamical integrations that also reveal other tight transit characteristics, i.e., the transit durations and the intervals between tight transits. For the seven currently known circumbinary systems, we estimate these critical parameters both analytically and numerically. Due to the mutual inclination between the planet and the binary, tight transits can only occur across the less massive star B in Kepler-16, -34, -35, and -47 (for both planets). The long-term average frequency of tight transits (compared to typical transits) for Kepler-16, -34, and -35 are estimated to be several percent. Using full numerical integrations, the next tight transit for each system is predicted and the soonest example appears to be Kepler-47b and -47c, which are likely to have tight transits before 2025. These unique and valuable events often deserve special observational scrutiny.

[en] Exoplanets discovered over the past decades have provided a new sample of giant exoplanets: hot Jupiters. For lack of enough materials in the current locations of hot Jupiters, they are perceived to form outside the snowline. Then, they migrate to the locations observed through interactions with gas disks or high-eccentricity mechanisms. We examined the efficiencies of different high-eccentricity mechanisms for forming hot Jupiters in near-coplanar multi-planet systems. These mechanisms include planet–planet scattering, the Kozai–Lidov mechanism, coplanar high-eccentricity migration, and secular chaos, as well as other two new mechanisms that we present in this work, which can produce hot Jupiters with high inclinations even in retrograde. We find that the Kozai–Lidov mechanism plays the most important role in producing hot Jupiters among these mechanisms. Secular chaos is not the usual channel for the formation of hot Jupiters due to the lack of an angular momentum deficit within ${10}^7{T}_{\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}}$ (periods of the inner orbit). According to comparisons between the observations and simulations, we speculate that there are at least two populations of hot Jupiters. One population migrates into the boundary of tidal effects due to interactions with the gas disk, such as ups And b, WASP-47 b, and HIP 14810 b. These systems usually have at least two planets with lower eccentricities, and remain dynamically stable in compact orbital configurations. Another population forms through high-eccentricity mechanisms after the excitation of eccentricity due to dynamical instability. These kinds of hot Jupiters usually have Jupiter-like companions in distant orbits with moderate or high eccentricities.

[en] This paper reports on the discovery that an eclipsing binary system, EPIC 202843107, has a δ Scuti variable component. The phased light curve from the Kepler space telescope presents a detached configuration. The binary modeling indicates that the two component stars have almost the same radius and may have experienced orbital circularization. Frequency analyses are performed for the residual light curve after subtracting the binary variations. The frequency spectrum reveals that one component star is a δ Scuti variable. A large frequency separation is cross-identified with the corresponding histogram, the Fourier transform and the echelle diagram method. The mean density of the δ Scuti component is estimated to be 0.09 g cm⁻³ based on the large separation and density relation. Systems like EPIC 202843107 are helpful to study the stellar evolution and physical state of binary stars. (paper)

[en] Analysis of the transit timing variations (TTVs) of candidate pairs near mean-motion resonances (MMRs) is an effective method to confirm planets. Hitherto, 68 planets in 34 multi-planet systems have been confirmed via TTVs. We analyze the TTVs of all candidates from the most recent Kepler data with a time span of upto about 1350 days (Q0-Q15). The anti-correlations of TTV signals and the mass upper limits of candidate pairs in the same system are calculated using an improved method suitable for long-period TTVs. If the false alarm probability of a candidate pair is less than 10^–3 and the mass upper limit for each candidate is less than 13 M _J, we confirm them as planets in the same system. Finally, eight planets in four multi-planet systems are confirmed via analysis of their TTVs. All of the four planet pairs are near first-order MMRs, including KOI-2672 near 2:1 MMR and KOI-1236, KOI-1563, and KOI-2038 near 3:2 MMR. Four planets have relatively long orbital periods (>35 days). KOI-2672.01 has an orbital period of 88.51658 days and a fit mass of 17 M _⊕. To date, it is the longest-period planet confirmed near a first-order MMR via TTVs.

[en] Many exoplanets have been found in orbits close to their host stars and thus they are subject to the effects of photo-evaporation. Previous studies have shown that a large portion of exoplanets detected by the Kepler mission have been significantly eroded by photo-evaporation. In this paper, we numerically study the effects of photo-evaporation on the orbital evolution of a hypothesized moon system around a planet. We find that photo-evaporation is crucial to the stability of the moon system. Photo-evaporation can erode the atmosphere of the planet thus leading to significant mass loss. As the planet loses mass, its Hill radius shrinks and its moons increase their orbital semimajor axes and eccentricities. When some moons approach their critical semimajor axes, global instability of the moon system would be triggered, which usually ends up with two, one or even zero surviving moons. Some lost moons could escape from the moon system to become a new planet orbiting the star or run away further to become a free-floating object in the Galaxy. Given the destructive role of photo-evaporation, we speculate that exomoons are less common for close-in planets (<0.1 au), especially those around M-type stars, because they are more X-ray luminous and thus enhancing photo-evaporation. The lessons we learn in this study may be helpful for the target selection of on-going/future exomoon searching programs.

[en] We present the results of our recent study on the interactions between a giant planet and a self-gravitating gas disk. We investigate how the disk's self-gravity affects the gap formation process and the migration of the giant planet. Two series of 1-D and 2-D hydrodynamic simulations are performed. We select several surface densities and focus on the gravitationally stable region. To obtain more reliable gravity torques exerted on the planet, a refined treatment of the disk's gravity is adopted in the vicinity of the planet. Our results indicate that the net effect of the disk's self-gravity on the gap formation process depends on the surface density of the disk. We notice that there are two critical values, Σ_I and Σ_II. When the surface density of the disk is lower than the first one, Σ₀ < Σ_I, the effect of self-gravity suppresses the formation of a gap. When Σ₀ > Σ_I, the self-gravity of the gas tends to benefit the gap formation process and enlarges the width/depth of the gap. According to our 1-D and 2-D simulations, we estimate the first critical surface density to be Σ_I ≈ 0.8 MMSN. This effect increases until the surface density reaches the second critical value Σ_II. When Σ₀ > Σ_II, the gravitational turbulence in the disk becomes dominant and the gap formation process is suppressed again. Our 2-D simulations show that this critical surface density is around 3.5 MMSN. We also study the associated orbital evolution of a giant planet. Under the effect of the disk's self-gravity, the migration rate of the giant planet increases when the disk is dominated by gravitational turbulence. We show that the migration timescale correlates with the effective viscosity and can be up to 10⁴ yr

[en] In January, 2008 the Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) was successfully deployed at Dome A, Antarctica. Because CSTAR consists of four static 14.5 cm telescopes pointing at the same 4.5° × 4.5° field around the south celestial pole, diurnal motion can be seen in its field of view. The stars are centered at different positions in different exposure frames. During four months of continuous observations during the polar night of 2008, about 0.3 million i-band images were obtained. In the latest version of the released photometric catalog, the effects of diurnal motion of the stars on the static CSTAR optical system can be obviously found. In this work, we update the CSTAR catalog by carefully analyzing and correcting the systematic errors caused by diurnal motion of stars on imperfectly flat-fielded frames

[en] The Kepler telescope has discovered over 4000 planets (candidates) by searching ∼200,000 stars over a wide range of distance (order of kpc) in our Galaxy. Characterizing the kinematic properties (e.g., Galactic component membership and kinematic age) of these Kepler targets (including the planet candidate hosts) is the first step toward studying Kepler planets in the Galactic context, which will reveal fresh insights into planet formation and evolution. In this paper, the second part of the Planets Across the Space and Time (PAST) series, by combining the data from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and Gaia and then applying the revised kinematic methods from PAST I, we present a catalog of kinematic properties (i.e., Galactic positions, velocities, and the relative membership probabilities among the thin disk, thick disk, Hercules stream, and the halo) as well as other basic stellar parameters for 35,835 Kepler stars. Further analyses of the LAMOST–Gaia–Kepler catalog demonstrate that our derived kinematic age reveals the expected stellar activity-age trend. Furthermore, we find that the fraction of thin (thick) disk stars increases (decreases) with the transiting planet multiplicity (N _p = 0, 1, 2 and 3+) and the kinematic age decreases with N _p, which could be a consequence of the dynamical evolution of planetary architecture with age. The LAMOST–Gaia–Kepler catalog will be useful for future studies on the correlations between the exoplanet distributions and the stellar Galactic environments as well as ages.

[en] We present 127 new transit light curves for 39 hot Jupiter systems, obtained over the span of 5 yr by two ground-based telescopes. A homogeneous analysis of these newly collected light curves together with archived spectroscopic, photometric, and Doppler velocimetric data using EXOFASTv2 leads to a significant improvement in the physical and orbital parameters of each system. All of our stellar radii are constrained to accuracies of better than 3%. The planetary radii for 37 of our 39 targets are determined to accuracies of better than 5%. Compared to our results, the literature eccentricities are preferentially overestimated due to the Lucy–Sweeney bias. Our new photometric observations therefore allow for significant improvement in the orbital ephemerides of each system. Our correction of the future transit window amounts to a change exceeding 10 minutes for 10 targets at the time of James Webb Space Telescope's launch, including a 72 minutes change for WASP-56. The measured transit midtimes for both literature light curves and our new photometry show no significant deviations from the updated linear ephemerides, ruling out in each system the presence of companion planets with masses greater than 0.39–5.0 M _⊕, 1.23–14.36 M _⊕, 1.65–21.18 M _⊕, and 0.69–6.75 M _⊕ near the 1:2, 2:3, 3:2, and 2:1 resonances with the hot Jupiters, respectively, at a confidence level of ±1σ. The absence of resonant companion planets in the hot Jupiter systems is inconsistent with the conventional expectation from disk migration.