Comparing Results from Two Uniform Phase-curve Surveys

Abstract We present a comparison of the two most recent and comprehensive Spitzer phase curve studies—L. Dang et al. and M. R. Swain et al.—which report analyses of the Spitzer 4.5 μ m phase curves. The studies employ different approaches for correcting instrument systematics and they also use different approaches for selecting the optimal exoplanet system parameters. To evaluate the level of consistency between the two studies, we compared the constraints on the ratio of planet-to-star radii ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mfrac> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>P</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⋆</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:mfrac> </mml:math> ), eclipse depth ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mfrac> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>P</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⋆</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:mfrac> </mml:math> ), phase curve amplitude (A), and phase curve offset ( ϕ ). We find that the two studies produce similar results at the population level although results for individual planets can vary, especially for phase curve offset values. We examined the difference of planet system parameters to see if inconsistencies in individual planet results were due to data reduction methods or system parameter choices. We also examined whether the system parameters used by both studies were consistent with Kepler’s third law. During this comparison, we identified one case where stellar mass, planet semimajor axis, and orbital period did not follow Kepler’s law even though the values were all compiled from the same publication. To assess whether this kind of discrepancy was recurrent, we recalculated the orbital periods using Kepler’s third law and compared them with the values listed in the NASA Exoplanet Archive. Our detailed analysis of archival system parameters strongly suggests that testing reported/selected parameters for consistency with Kepler’s third law is worthwhile.