Tidally Heated Sub-Neptunes, Refined Planetary Compositions, and Confirmation of a Third Planet in the TOI-1266 System

Greklek-McKeon, Michael; Vissapragada, Shreyas; Knutson, Heather A.; Fukui, Akihiko; Saidel, Morgan; Gomez Barrientos, Jonathan; Levine, W. Garrett; Behmard, Aida; Batygin, Konstantin; Chachan, Yayaati; Vasisht, Gautam; Hu, Renyu; Cloutier, Ryan; Latham, David; López-Morales, Mercedes; Vanderburg, Andrew; Heffner, Carolyn; Nied, Paul; Milburn, Jennifer; Wilson, Isaac; Roderick, Diana; Koviak, Kathleen; Barlow, Tom; Stone, John F.; Kiman, Rocio; Korth, Judith; de Leon, Jerome P.; Fukuda, Izuru; Hayashi, Yuya; Ikoma, Masahiro; Ikuta, Kai; Isogai, Keisuke; Kawai, Yugo; Kawauchi, Kiyoe; Kusakabe, Nobuhiko; Livingston, John H.; Mori, Mayuko; Narita, Norio; Tamura, Motohide; Watanabe, Noriharu; Fernández-Rodríguez, Gareb
Bibliographical reference

The Astronomical Journal

Advertised on:
6
2025
Number of authors
41
IAC number of authors
3
Citations
1
Refereed citations
0
Description
TOI-1266 is a benchmark system of two temperate (<450 K) sub-Neptune-sized planets orbiting a nearby M dwarf exhibiting a rare inverted architecture with a larger interior planet. In this study, we characterize transit timing variations (TTVs) in the TOI-1266 system using high-precision ground-based follow-up and new TESS data. We confirm the presence of a third exterior nontransiting planet, TOI-1266 d (P = 32.5 days, Md = 3.68 ), and combine the TTVs with archival radial velocity measurements to improve our knowledge of the planetary masses and radii. We find that, consistent with previous studies, TOI-1266 b (Rb = 2.52 ± 0.08 R⊕, Mb = 4.46 ± 0.69 M⊕) has a low bulk density requiring the presence of a hydrogen-rich envelope, while TOI-1266 c (Rc = 1.98 ± 0.10 R⊕, Mc = 3.17 ± 0.76 M⊕) has a higher bulk density that can be matched by either a hydrogen-rich or water-rich envelope. Our new dynamical model reveals that this system is arranged in a rare configuration with the inner and outer planets located near the 3:1 period ratio with a nonresonant planet in between them. Our dynamical fits indicate that the inner and outer planet have significantly nonzero eccentricities ( ), suggesting that TOI-1266 b may have an inflated envelope due to tidal heating. Finally, we explore the corresponding implications for the formation and long-term evolution of the system, which contains two of the most favorable cool (<500 K) sub-Neptunes for atmospheric characterization with JWST.
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