HIP 65426 hosts a young giant planet that has become the first exoplanet directly imaged with JWST. Using time-series photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we classify HIP 65426 as a high-frequency δ Scuti pulsator with a possible large frequency separation of Δν=7.23±0.02 cycles day−1. We check the TESS data for pulsation timing variations and use the nondetection to estimate a 95% dynamical mass upper limit of 12.8 Mjup for HIP 65426 b. We also identify a low-frequency region of signal that we interpret as stellar latitudinal differential rotation with two rapid periods of 7.85±0.08 hr and 6.67±0.04 hr. We use our TESS rotation periods together with published values of radius and vsini to jointly measure the inclination of HIP 65426 to i⋆=107−11+12∘. Our stellar inclination is consistent with the orbital inclination of HIP 65426 b (108−3+6∘) at the 68% percent level based on our orbit fit using published relative astrometry. The lack of significant evidence for spin-orbit misalignment in the HIP 65426 system supports an emerging trend consistent with preferential alignment between imaged long-period giant planets and their host stars.
@article{arxiv.2312.05310,
title = {HIP 65426 is a High-Frequency Delta Scuti Pulsator in Plausible Spin-Orbit Alignment with its Directly Imaged Exoplanet},
author = {Aldo G. Sepulveda and Daniel Huber and Timothy R. Bedding and Daniel R. Hey and Simon J. Murphy and Zhoujian Zhang and Michael C. Liu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.05310},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
18 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Accepted to AJ after minor constructive revisions. Uncertainty on HIP65426 inclination is now more realistic; Figures 5 and 7 are updated accordingly