Speaker
Description
Long-period planets play an important role in their systems, as they can interact with material and small mass planets, and modify their orbits. These modifications can result in dynamical instabilities within the system. One such system is that of Tabby’s star. Its Kepler light curve shows unusual dips with no clear periodicity or cause. The most plausible explanation is a family of exocomets. Our study of Tabby’s star revealed a unique, symmetric transit consistent with a long-period planet or brown dwarf. Could it be responsible for triggering internal dynamical instability in the system? Our analysis of the TESS and our new radial velocity data suggests a companion with a period of at least ~1030 days, one of the longest period transiting planets detected. How many other systems are there like Tabby's star? What influence do these planets have on their systems? We have developed a pipeline to detect transits based on the True Inclusion Probability (TIP). We are applying this pipeline to stars in the Continuous Viewing Zone (CVZ) of TESS, that can be followed up with future radial velocity observations. This pipeline could also be used for upcoming PLATO long-period planet discoveries.
