TRANSIT TIMING VARIATION OF NEAR-RESONANCE PLANETARY PAIRS. II. CONFIRMATION OF 30 PLANETS IN 15 MULTIPLE-PLANET SYSTEMS

Abstract

Following on from Paper I in this series, I report the confirmation of a further 30 planets in 15 multiple-planet systems via transit timing variations (TTVs), using the publicly available Kepler light curves (Q0–Q16). All 15 pairs are near first-order mean motion resonances, showing sinusoidal TTVs consistent with theoretically predicted periods, which demonstrate they are orbiting and interacting in the same systems. Although individual masses cannot be accurately extracted based only on TTVs (because of the well known degeneracy between mass and eccentricity), the measured TTV phases and amplitudes can still place relatively tight constraints on their mass ratios and upper limits on their masses, which confirm their planetary nature. Some of these systems (KOI-274, KOI-285, KOI-370, and KOI-2672) are relatively bright and thus suitable for further follow-up observations.