The Habitable-zone Planet Finder Detects a Terrestrial-mass Planet Candidate Closely Orbiting Gliese 1151: The Likely Source of Coherent Low-frequency Radio Emission from an Inactive Star
Abstract
The coherent low-frequency radio emission detected by LOFAR from Gliese 1151, a quiescent M4.5 dwarf star, has radio emission properties consistent with theoretical expectations of star-planet interactions for an Earth-sized planet on a 1- to 5-day orbit. New near-infrared radial velocities from the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF) spectrometer on the 10 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory, combined with previous velocities from HARPS-N, reveal a periodic Doppler signature consistent with an $m\sin i=2.5\pm 0.5{M}_{\oplus }$ exoplanet on a 2.02-day orbit. Precise photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) shows no flares or activity signature, consistent with a quiescent M dwarf. While no planetary transit is detected in the TESS data, a weak photometric modulation is detectable in the photometry at a ~2-day period. This independent detection of a candidate planet signal with the Doppler radial velocity technique adds further weight to the claim of the first detection of star-exoplanet interactions at radio wavelengths and helps validate this emerging technique for the detection of exoplanets.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- September 2021
- DOI:
- 10.3847/2041-8213/abe2b2
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2102.02233
- Bibcode:
- 2021ApJ...919L...9M
- Keywords:
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- Radial velocity;
- Exoplanet detection methods;
- High resolution spectroscopy;
- M dwarf stars;
- Galactic radio sources;
- Exoplanet astronomy;
- 1332;
- 489;
- 2096;
- 982;
- 486;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters