A super-Earth on a close-in orbit around the M1V star GJ 740. A HADES and CARMENES collaboration

Abstract

Context. M-dwarfs have proven to be ideal targets for planetary radial velocity (RV) searches due to their higher planet-star mass contrast, which favors the detection of low-mass planets. The abundance of super-Earth and Earth-like planets detected around this type of star motivates further such research on hosts without reported planetary companions. <BR /> Aims: The HADES and CARMENES programs are aimed at carrying out extensive searches of exoplanetary systems around M-type stars in the northern hemisphere, allowing us to address, in a statistical sense, the properties of the planets orbiting these objects. In this work, we perform a spectroscopic and photometric study of one of the program stars (GJ 740), which exhibits a short-period RV signal that is compatible with a planetary companion. <BR /> Methods: We carried out a spectroscopic analysis based on 129 HARPS-N spectra taken over a time span of 6 yr combined with 57 HARPS spectra taken over 4 yr, as well as 32 CARMENES spectra taken during more than 1 yr, resulting in a dataset with a time coverage of 10 yr. We also relied on 459 measurements from the public ASAS survey with a time-coverage of 8 yr, along with 5 yr of photometric magnitudes from the EXORAP project taken in the V, B, R, and I filters to carry out a photometric study. Both analyses were made using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations and Gaussian process regression to model the activity of the star. <BR /> Results: We present the discovery of a short-period super-Earth with an orbital period of 2.37756<SUB>−0.00011</SUB><SUP>+0.00013</SUP> d and a minimum mass of 2.96<SUB>−0.48</SUB><SUP>+0.50</SUP> M<SUB>⊕</SUB>. We offer an update to the previously reported characterization of the magnetic cycle and rotation period of the star, obtaining values of P<SUB>rot</SUB> = 35.563 ± 0.071 d and P<SUB>cycle</SUB> = 2800 ± 150 d. Furthermore, the RV time series exhibits a possibly periodic long-term signal, which might be related to a Saturn-mass planet of ~100 M<SUB>⊕</SUB>. <P />RV data are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to <A href="http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr">cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr</A> (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via <A href="http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A20">http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A20</A> <P />Based on observations made with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), operated on the island of La Palma by the INAF - Fundación Galileo Galilei at the Roche de Los Muchachos Observatory of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC); and the CARMENES instrument installed at the 3.5m telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory, Spain.