Dr. Rabus, Markus

We validate the presence of a two-planet system orbiting the 0.15–1.4 Gyr K4 dwarf TOI 560 (HD 73583). The system consists of an inner moderately eccentric transiting mini-Neptune (TOI 560 b, P 6.3980661 0.00000970.0000095 = -+ days,e 0.294 0.0620.13= -+ , M M0.94 0.230.31 Nep= -+ ) initially discovered in the Sector 8 Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission observations, and a transiting mini-Neptune (TOI 560 c, P 18.8805 0.00110.0024 = - + days, M M1.32 0.320.29 Nep= -+ ) discovered in the Sector 34 observations, in a rare near-1:3 orbital resonance. We utilize photometric data from TESS Spitzer, and ground-based follow-up observations to confirm the ephemerides and period of the transiting planets, vet false-positive scenarios, and detect the photoeccentric effect for TOI 560 b. We obtain follow-up spectroscopy and corresponding precise radial velocities (RVs) with the iSHELL spectrograph at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the HIRES Spectrograph at Keck Observatory to validate the planetary nature of these signals, which we combine with published Planet Finder Spectrograph RVs from the Magellan Observatory. We detect the masses of both planets at >3σ significance. We apply a Gaussian process (GP) model to the TESS light curves to place priors on a chromatic RV GP model to constrain the stellar activity of the TOI 560 host star, and confirm a strong wavelength dependence for the stellar activity demonstrating the ability of near-IR RVs to mitigate stellar activity for young K dwarfs. TOI 560 is a nearby moderately young multiplanet system with two planets suitable for atmospheric characterization with the James Webb Space Telescope and other upcoming missions. In particular, it will undergo six transit pairs separated by <6 hr before 2027 June.

We report the discovery of three transiting low-mass companions to aged stars: a brown dwarf (TOI-2336b) and two objects near the hydrogen burning mass limit (TOI-1608b and TOI-2521b). These three systems were first identified using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TOI-2336b has a radius of 1.05 ± 0.04 RJ, a mass of 69.9 ± 2.3 MJ and an orbital period of 7.71 d. TOI-1608b has a radius of 1.21 ± 0.06 RJ, a mass of 90.7 ± 3.7 MJ and an orbital period of 2.47 d. TOI-2521b has a radius of 1.01 ± 0.04 RJ, a mass of 77.5 ± 3.3 MJ, and an orbital period of 5.56 d. We found all these low-mass companions are inflated. We fitted a relation between radius, mass, and incident flux using the sample of known transiting brown dwarfs and low-mass M dwarfs. We found a positive correlation between the flux and the radius for brown dwarfs and for low-mass stars that is weaker than the correlation observed for giant planets. We also found that TOI-1608 and TOI-2521 are very likely to be spin-orbit synchronized, leading to the unusually rapid rotation of the primary stars considering their evolutionary stages. Our estimates indicate that both systems have much shorter spin-orbit synchronization time-scales compared to their ages. These systems provide valuable insights into the evolution of stellar systems with brown dwarf and low-mass stellar companions influenced by tidal effects.

We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) – TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), and TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9