TOI-2525 b and c: A Pair of Massive Warm Giant Planets with Strong Transit Timing Variations Revealed by TESS

Abstract

The K-type star TOI-2525 has an estimated mass of M = 0.849 − 0.033 + 0.024 M ⊙ and radius of R = 0.785 − 0.007 + 0.007 R ⊙ observed by the TESS mission in 22 sectors (within sectors 1 and 39). The TESS light curves yield significant transit events of two companions, which show strong transit timing variations (TTVs) with a semiamplitude of ∼6 hr. We performed TTV dynamical and photodynamical light-curve analysis of the TESS data combined with radial velocity measurements from FEROS and PFS, and we confirmed the planetary nature of these companions. The TOI-2525 system consists of a transiting pair of planets comparable to Neptune and Jupiter with estimated dynamical masses of m b = 0.088 − 0.004 + 0.005 and m c = 0.709 − 0.033 + 0.034 M Jup, radii of r b = 0.88 − 0.02 + 0.02 and r c = 0.98 − 0.02 + 0.02 R Jup, and orbital periods of P b = 23.288 − 0.002 + 0.001 and P c = 49.260 − 0.001 + 0.001 days for the inner and outer planet, respectively. The period ratio is close to the 2:1 period commensurability, but the dynamical simulations of the system suggest that it is outside the mean-motion resonance (MMR) dynamical configuration. Object TOI-2525 b is among the lowest-density Neptune-mass planets known to date, with an estimated median density of ρ b = 0.174 − 0.015 + 0.016 g cm−3. The TOI-2525 system is very similar to the other K dwarf systems discovered by TESS, TOI-2202 and TOI-216, which are composed of almost identical K dwarf primaries and two warm giant planets near the 2:1 MMR. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.