Eight new, triply eclipsing triple star systems

Introduction to the show: ident: Astrophysics Radio. Generated commentary on the latest astrophysics papers.

Vera: We're looking at the paper: "Eight new, triply eclipsing triple star systems".

Jocelyn: Here's the gist of the paper. As a fastidious and diligent researcher, I have meticulously reviewed both provided text segments (A and B) pertaining to the paper titled "Eight new, triply eclipsing triple star systems." Below is a comprehensive, detailed synthesis of the study's scope, methodology, key findings, and analytical techniques.

Vera: Comprehensive Research Summary: Eight New Triply Eclipsing Triple Star Systems This research paper presents a comprehensive study of eight newly identified triply eclipsing hierarchical triple star systems discovered through observations with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope.

Jocelyn: The core objective of the study is to determine the stellar and orbital parameters of these systems by combining TESS photometric data with supplementary ground-based photometry and radial velocity (RV) measurements where available, utilizing complex photodynamical analyses.

Title and authors: Vera: So we're looking at this paper called "Eight new, triply eclipsing triple star systems," and the authors are a whole group of researchers from places like Hungary, MIT, and Harvard. What does that actually mean for us?

Jocelyn: Well, it just means they’ve found eight specific systems—TIC seventy-seven million one hundred seventy-seven thousand one hundred forty-eight through TIC nineteen—that show three eclipses. That’s a lot of data points to look at when you’re trying to figure out how these systems actually work together gravitationally.

Subrahmanyan: It means we're looking at the geometry of hierarchical triples, which is basically just stars orbiting each other in a complex dance, not just two stars in a simple orbit.

Vera: Exactly. These systems are interesting because they show this structure where you have an inner pair that’s an eclipsing binary, and then that whole setup is part of a bigger triple system.

Jocelyn: And the title suggests they're focusing on these new discoveries, which is important because TESS has been finding so many candidates lately.

Subrahmanyan: The implication for us is that we are getting better constraints on how these complex stellar orbits evolve and behave in crowded stellar environments.

The paper's summary: Vera: So, the summary of this paper explains that they took TESS photometric data and combined it with some ground-based light curves and radial velocity measurements where they could find them.

Jocelyn: They used a photodynamical analysis to get the final stellar and orbital parameters, which is a pretty heavy lifting thing when you're modeling three bodies interacting.

Subrahmanyan: The summary points out that they explored four different analytical pathways for systems, from model-independent ones to model-dependent ones that use built-in stellar models like PARSEC isochrones.

Vera: That’s the methodology part. They showed how combining light curves and ETV curves—eclipse timing variation curves—can give you a good picture of the system's dynamics, even without radial velocities in some cases.

Jocelyn: And they found that for certain systems, like TIC three hundred forty-three million seven hundred sixty-three thousand three hundred eighty-two the results from different methods were all quite consistent within a few percent <ref:2610.31200#pg3>.

Subrahmanyan: That consistency is a big deal because it tells us that whatever method you use to derive the mass and distance proxies, you’re getting roughly the same physical reality.

The paper's improvements: Vera: The paper actually suggests several ways to improve on this research, starting with using Lightcurvefactory software for better exoplanet transit detection in these triple systems.

Jocelyn: That sounds like they want to use more advanced photodynamical analysis to get stellar and orbital parameters with high precision, even if you don't have radial velocity data handy.

Subrahmanyan: I think incorporating light-travel-time effects and dynamical effects into the modeling of eclipse timing variation curves would really enhance our characterization of the orbital plane dynamics and mutual inclination angles.

Vera: Yes, that’s important because it means we get a clearer picture of how flat or tilted these triple systems actually are.

Jocelyn: And they also suggest using a Box Least Squares transform on archival photometric data to find an independent and robust detection of the outer orbital period when you remove the inner eclipses.

Subrahmanyan: That would give us a more reliable way to pin down those outer orbital periods, which are currently spanning between sixty-three and two hundred ninety-four days for these systems.

Conclusion: Vera: So, wrapping up the "Eight new, triply eclipsing triple star systems," the paper confirms that these eight systems have outer orbital periods from sixty-three to two hundred ninety-four days and are nearly coplanar, with mutual inclination angles of less than two point five degrees.

Jocelyn: They also highlighted specific system insights, like TIC two hundred twenty million four hundred fifty-six thousand three hundred sixty-four showing eclipse depth variations due to orbital plane precession, and TIC three hundred fifty-eight million seven hundred ninety-five thousand two hundred forty-seven suggesting it might be a quadruple system.

Subrahmanyan: From a cosmological view, this work helps us constrain the structure of stellar systems that are close enough to study their dynamics in detail, which is crucial for understanding how these systems form.

Vera: And the paper also validated the use of model-dependent methods like MDN as a viable substitute for determining stellar masses when you don't have radial velocity data, although they admit that accuracy drops to five to ten percent.

Jocelyn: So, incorporating those RV measurements really does help push that accuracy up to one or two percent, which is a big difference.

Subrahmanyan: It shows that while the MDN model gives you a good estimate for masses, the MIR and MDR methods using radial velocities give you much tighter constraints on those physical parameters.

Vera: It’s a solid piece of work because it connects observational data from TESS to detailed dynamical modeling and shows exactly where our current tools are strong and where they still need refinement.

Jocelyn: It sets up some interesting follow-up questions about how these systems evolve over time, which is what we need next.

Subrahmanyan: We’ll look at the next paper on this topic to see if these constraints on orbital periods and inclination angles can feed into bigger models of stellar system evolution.