A decade of transit photometry for K2-19: Revised system architecture

The star K2-19 hosts a pair of Neptunian planets deep inside the 3:2 resonance. They induce strong transit-timing variations with two incommensurate frequencies. Previous photodynamical modeling of 3.3 years of transit and radial velocity data produced mass estimates of 32.4 ± 1.7 M ⊕ and 10.8 ± 0.6 M ⊕ for planets b and c, respectively, and corresponding eccentricity estimates of 0.20 ± 0.03 and 0.21 ± 0.03. These high eccentricities raise questions about the formation origin of the system, and this motivated us to extend the observing baseline in an attempt to better constrain their values. We present a photodynamical analysis of 10 years of transit data that confirms the previous mass estimates (30.8 ± 1.3 M ⊕ and 11.1 ± 0.4 M ⊕ ), but reduces the median eccentricities to 0.04 ± 0.02 and 0.07 ± 0.02 for b and c, respectively. These values are more consistent with standard formation models, but still involve nonzero free eccentricity. The previously reported high eccentricities appear to be due to a single transit for which measurements taken at twilight mimicked ingress. This resulted in a 12-minute error in the midtransit time. The data that covered 1.3 and 5 so-called super and resonant periods were used to match a Fourier analysis of the transit-timing variation signal with simple analytic expressions for the frequencies and amplitudes to obtain planet mass estimates within 2% of the median photodynamical values, regardless of the eccentricities. Theoretical details of the analysis are presented in a companion paper. Additionally, we identified a possible planet candidate situated exterior to the b–c pair. Finally, in contrast to a previous study, our internal structure modeling of K2-19 b yields a metal mass fraction that is consistent with core accretion.