A stable sinusoidal radial-velocity semi-amplitude can be stellar reflex motion caused by a companion on a nearly circular orbit. The amplitude is compatible with a giant planet; a low-mass star or brown dwarf viewed nearly face-on can mimic the same projected motion, but requires an increasingly unlikely orientation. Starspots and magnetically suppressed convection can produce a rotational stellar activity signal on a ten-day timescale; contemporaneous photometry, activity indicators and stellar spectral-line bisector and other profile changes distinguish these from a clean common Doppler shift. Solar-like stellar oscillations ordinarily have much shorter periods, so a coherent ten-day oscillation of an otherwise ordinary solar-type dwarf is less plausible. Instrumental drift, sampling aliases and blended spectra also need checking. A sinusoid alone does not establish a planetary origin, and the data do not assign numerical probabilities to these alternatives.
For the minimum companion mass from radial velocity, take a circular two-body orbit and initially . The exact relation and its low-mass limit are
With ,
Here is the relative orbital semi-major axis. Nonzero orbital eccentricity multiplies the inferred by at fixed measured , but the sinusoidal model motivates here.
For the radial-velocity sensitivity limit at fixed planet mass, use and interpret the stated detection scale as a semi-amplitude threshold . The largest distance occurs for :
For an inclination , this boundary is smaller by . The result assumes adequate time coverage and neglects the stipulated stellar noise. If the detection scale instead denotes a full peak-to-peak excursion, set to half that scale; then increases fourfold.
The stellar-mass scaling of radial-velocity planet estimates changes these inferences because Kepler's third law and the stellar reflex response depend on the stellar mass. At fixed , and , whereas the fixed-mass detectability boundary scales as . Therefore
The observed period and amplitude are unchanged. The stellar radius does not enter these leading dynamical estimates, but is crucial for the exoplanet transit inference.
For the transiting companion, assume an opaque spherical planet, negligible transit dilution and negligible limb darkening. Its radius ratio is , hence
Using the revised stellar mass and a circular orbit gives and . Interpret the duration as the total first-to-fourth-contact duration . The impact parameter from total transit duration follows from the total duration of a circular planetary transit:
This is noncentral but not grazing: . The small-planet straight-chord approximation gives ; retaining finite and orbital curvature gives the stated value. A duration measured between other contacts needs the corresponding contact formula. Unknown orbital eccentricity and argument of periapsis change the transverse speed and prevent a unique unconstrained ; the numerical estimate is conditional on the stated circular model.[ref]
Figure 1.
The measured transit duration selects a short off-centre chord when finite planet size is retained
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Because the transit constrains , the RV nondetection now bounds the actual planetary mass, rather than only its projected mass. The bulk-density upper limit from a transit and an RV nondetection is
These bounds assume the instrumental threshold can be applied to a fitted signal at the transit period; no statistical confidence level is specified. Such a large radius at this low mass is inconsistent with an ordinary compact rock-and-iron body. A low-density volatile-rich planet, possibly with an extended H/He envelope, is indicated under the planetary interpretation. The observations do not uniquely determine interior composition, atmospheric abundance or formation history; blended eclipses and activity still require validation. There is no luminosity or effective temperature supplied for the host, so a numerical planetary equilibrium temperature cannot be inferred from these data alone.
The numerical conversions above use externally documented , , , , , and . They are conversion constants, not additional measured system parameters.[ref][ref]