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arXiv · 1610.03550

A population of planetary systems characterized by short-period, Earth-sized planets

Jason H. Steffen·Jeffrey L. Coughlin
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Abstract

We analyze data from the Quarter 1-17 Data Release 24 (Q1--Q17 DR24) planet candidate catalog from NASA's Kepler mission, specifically comparing systems with single transiting planets to systems with multiple transiting planets, and identify a distinct population of exoplanets with a necessarily distinct system architecture. Such an architecture likely indicates a different branch in their evolutionary past relative to the typical Kepler system. The key feature of these planetary systems is an isolated, Earth-sized planet with a roughly one-day orbital period. We estimate that at least 24 of the 144 systems we examined (>~17%) are members of this population. Accounting for detection efficiency, such planetary systems occur with a frequency similar to the hot Jupiters.

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Jason H. Steffen, Jeffrey L. Coughlin. 2016-10-11. A population of planetary systems characterized by short-period, Earth-sized planets. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1606658113

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