Exoplanetology: Exoplanets & Exomoons

Discovery of Small Ultra-short-period Planets Orbiting KG Dwarfs in Kepler Survey Using GPU Phase Folding and Deep Learning Detection System

By Keith Cowing

Status Report

astro-ph.EP

January 2, 2024

Filed under astro-ph.EP, astronomy, Convolutional Neural Network, Deep Learning, exoplanet, G dwarf, GPU Phase Folding algorithm, imaging, K00446.c, K01522.c, K01821.b, K03404.b, K04978.b, Kepler, sub-Earth, telescope, TESS

Discovery of Small Ultra-short-period Planets Orbiting KG Dwarfs in Kepler Survey Using GPU Phase Folding and Deep Learning Detection System — Kepler-1409b, as listed in the Kepler catalog, orbits its host star KID 12405333 with a period of 0.76486 days. This transit period has been precisely detected by the GPFC method. In the top panel, a clear transit signal is visible in the folded light curve at this identified period of p=0.76486 days. Meanwhile, the bottom panel reveals a peak CNN score of 0.99999964 at the same period, along with another notable score of 0.995469 at its harmonic half-period of p=0.38243. — astro-ph.EP

Since the discovery of the first hot Jupiter orbiting a solar-type star, 51 Peg, in 1995, more than 4000 exoplanets have been identified using various observational techniques.

The formation process of these sub-Earths remains elusive, and acquiring additional samples is essential for investigating this unique population. In our study, we employ a novel GPU Phase Folding algorithm combined with a Convolutional Neural Network, termed the GPFC method, on Kepler photometry data. This method enhances the transit search speed significantly over the traditional Box-fitting Least Squares method, allowing a complete search of the known KOI photometry data within hours using a commercial GPU card.

To date, we have identified five promising sub-Earth short-period candidates: K00446.c, K01821.b, K01522.c, K03404.b, and K04978.b. A closer analysis reveals the following characteristics: K00446.c orbits a K dwarf on a 0.645091-day period. With a radius of 0.461R⊕, it ranks as the second smallest USP discovered to date. K01821.b is a sub-Earth with a radius of 0.648R⊕, orbiting a G dwarf over a 0.91978-day period.

It is the second smallest USP among all confirmed USPs orbiting G dwarfs in the NASA Archive. K01522.c has a radius of 0.704R⊕ and completes an orbit around a Sun-like G dwarf in 0.64672 days; K03404.b, with a radius of 0.738R⊕, orbits a G dwarf on a 0.68074-day period; and K04978.b, with its planetary radius of 0.912R⊕, orbits a G dwarf, completing an orbit every 0.94197 days. Three of our finds, K01821.b, K01522.c and K03404.b, rank as the smallest planets among all confirmed USPs orbiting G dwarfs in the Kepler dataset.

The discovery of these small exoplanets underscores the promising capability of the GPFC method for searching for small, new transiting exoplanets in photometry data from Kepler, TESS, and future space transit missions.

Kaitlyn Wang, Jian Ge, Kevin Willis, Kevin Wang, Yinan Zhao

Comments: 24 pages, 40 figures; To be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Machine Learning (cs.LG)
Cite as: arXiv:2312.17382 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2312.17382v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2312.1738 2
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Submission history
From: Kaitlyn Wang
[v1] Thu, 28 Dec 2023 22:12:54 UTC (22,997 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.17382
Astrobiology

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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