English

A Pair of Dynamically Interacting Sub-Neptunes Around TOI-6054

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2026-03-26 v1

Abstract

We confirm the planetary nature of a pair of transiting sub-Neptune exoplanets orbiting the bright F-type sub-giant star TOI-6054 (V=8.02V=8.02, K=6.673K=6.673) as a part of the OrCAS radial velocity survey using WIYN/NEID observations. We find that TOI-6054b and TOI-6054c have radii of 2.65±0.152.65 \pm 0.15 RR_{\oplus} and 2.81±0.182.81 \pm 0.18 RR_{\oplus}, respectively, and masses of 12.4±1.712.4 \pm 1.7 MM_{\oplus} and 9.2±2.09.2 \pm 2.0 MM_{\oplus}. The planets have zero-albedo equilibrium temperatures of 1360±331360 \pm 33 K and 1144±281144 \pm 28 K. The host star has expanded and will evolve off of the Main Sequence within the next \sim500 Myr, and the resulting increase in stellar luminosity has more than doubled the stellar flux the two planets receive compared to the start of the host star's main sequence phase. Consequently, TOI-6054b may be losing some of its primordial H/He atmosphere -- if it has one. Based on dynamical simulations performed using the orbital parameters of the two planets, TOI-6054b, and TOI-6054c are very likely in a 5:3 mean motion resonance. The TOI-6054 system thus has the potential to be an excellent candidate for future atmospheric follow-up observations, with two similarly sized sub-Neptunes around a bright star. We also estimate that if TOI-6054b is currently losing its H/He atmosphere this should be observable from space and from the ground.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.09095,
  title  = {A Pair of Dynamically Interacting Sub-Neptunes Around TOI-6054},
  author = {Maxwell A. Kroft and Thomas G. Beatty and Ian J. M. Crossfield and Joseph R. Livesey and Juliette Becker and Jacob K. Luhn and Paul Robertson and Allyson Bieryla and David R. Ciardi and Catherine A. Clark and Maria V. Goliguzova and Steve B. Howell and Jack J. Lissauer and Colin Littlefield and Michael B. Lund and Boris S. Safonov and Joseph M. Akana Murphy and Natalie M. Batalha and Malik Bossett and Jonathan Brande and Tansu Daylan and Courtney Dressing and Anna Gagnebin and Daniel Huber and Howard Isaacson and Stephen R. Kane and Laura Kreidberg and David W. Latham and Rafael Luque and Alex S. Polanski and Pranav H. Premnath and Maleah Rhem and Claire J. Rogers and Emma V. Turtelboom},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.09095},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

23 pages, 11 figures, submitted to AJ, partially updated with referee's comments