English

Single-Star Warm-Jupiter Systems Tend to Be Aligned, Even Around Hot Stellar Hosts: No $T_{\rm eff}-\lambda$ Dependency

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2024-08-20 v1

Abstract

The stellar obliquity distribution of warm-Jupiter systems is crucial for constraining the dynamical history of Jovian exoplanets, as the warm Jupiters' tidal detachment likely preserves their primordial obliquity. However, the sample size of warm-Jupiter systems with measured stellar obliquities has historically been limited compared to that of hot Jupiters, particularly in hot-star systems. In this work, we present newly obtained sky-projected stellar obliquity measurements for warm-Jupiter systems, TOI-559, TOI-2025, TOI-2031, TOI-2485, TOI-2524, and TOI-3972, derived from the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, and show that all six systems display alignment with a median measurement uncertainty of 13 degrees. Combining these new measurements with the set of previously reported stellar obliquity measurements, our analysis reveals that single-star warm-Jupiter systems tend to be aligned, even around hot stellar hosts. This alignment exhibits a 3.4-σ\sigma deviation from the TeffλT_{\rm eff}-\lambda dependency observed in hot-Jupiter systems, where planets around cool stars tend to be aligned, while those orbiting hot stars show considerable misalignment. The current distribution of spin-orbit measurements for Jovian exoplanets indicates that misalignments are neither universal nor primordial phenomena affecting all types of planets. The absence of misalignments in single-star warm-Jupiter systems further implies that many hot Jupiters, by contrast, have experienced a dynamically violent history.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2408.10038,
  title  = {Single-Star Warm-Jupiter Systems Tend to Be Aligned, Even Around Hot Stellar Hosts: No $T_{\rm eff}-\lambda$ Dependency},
  author = {Xian-Yu Wang and Malena Rice and Songhu Wang and Shubham Kanodia and Fei Dai and Sarah E. Logsdon and Heidi Schweiker and Johanna K. Teske and R. Paul Butler and Jeffrey D. Crane and Stephen A. Shectman and Samuel N. Quinn and Veselin B. Kostov and Hugh P. Osborn and Robert F. Goeke and Jason D. Eastman and Avi Shporer and David Rapetti and Karen A. Collins and Cristilyn Watkins and Howard M. Relles and George R. Ricker and Sara Seager and Joshua N. Winn and Jon M. Jenkins},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2408.10038},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

18 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

R2 v1 2026-06-28T18:16:51.482Z