New data break the eccentricity multimodality of TOI-2134 c to e=0.31±0.01, refine both planets' masses and radii, and yield a 4.7σ RM obliquity of 59±31° for planet c.
Outflowing helium from a mature mini-Neptune
1 Pith paper cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
abstract
We announce the detection of escaping helium from TOI 2134b, a mini-Neptune a few Gyr old. The average in-transit absorption spectrum shows a peak of 0.37 +- 0.05% and an equivalent width of $W_{\rm avg}=3.3 \pm 0.3$ m$\r{A}$. Among all planets with helium detections, TOI 2134b is the only mature mini-Neptune, has the smallest helium signal, and experiences the lowest XUV flux. Putting TOI 2134b in the context of all other helium detections, we report the detection of a strong (p=3.0e-5) and theoretically expected correlation between $F_{\rm XUV}/\rho_{\rm XUV}$ (proportional to the energy-limited mass loss rate) and $R_* W_{\rm avg}$ (roughly proportional to the observationally inferred mass loss rate). Here, $W_{\rm avg}$ is the equivalent width of the helium absorption and $\rho_{\rm XUV}$ is the density of the planet within the XUV photosphere, but the correlation is similarly strong if we use the optical photosphere. TOI 2134b anchors the relation, having the lowest value on both axes. We encourage further observations to fill in missing regions of this parameter space and improve estimates of $F_{\rm XUV}$.
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Understanding eccentric temperate giants: an in-depth study of the architecture and stellar obliquity of the TOI-2134 system
New data break the eccentricity multimodality of TOI-2134 c to e=0.31±0.01, refine both planets' masses and radii, and yield a 4.7σ RM obliquity of 59±31° for planet c.