Mass, Density, and Formation Constraints in the Compact, Sub-Earth Kepler-444 System including Two Mars-mass Planets

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Kepler-444 is a five-planet system around a host star approximately 11 billion years old. The five transiting planets all have sub-Earth radii and are in a compact configuration with orbital periods between 3 and 10 days. Here, we present a transit-timing analysis of the system using the full <jats:italic>Kepler</jats:italic> data set in order to determine the masses of the planets. Two planets, Kepler-444 d (<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math> <?CDATA ${M}_{{\rm{d}}}={0.036}_{-0.020}^{+0.065}\,{M}_{\oplus }$?> </jats:tex-math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="apjlaa6543ieqn1.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula>) and Kepler-444 e (<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math> <?CDATA ${M}_{{\rm{e}}}={0.034}_{-0.019}^{+0.059}\,{M}_{\oplus }$?> </jats:tex-math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="apjlaa6543ieqn2.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula>), have confidently detected masses due to their proximity to resonance that creates transit-timing variations. The mass ratio of these planets combined with the magnitude of possible star–planet tidal effects suggests that smooth disk migration over a significant distance is unlikely to have brought the system to its currently observed orbital architecture without significant post-formation perturbations.</jats:p>

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