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Jull, Abilene

Transit time variations (TTVs) are subtle deviations in the timing of a planet’s transit. While extensive TTV analyses have been performed on the Kepler dataset, the TESS dataset remains comparatively unexplored. This project addresses that gap by developing a semi-automated computational pipeline to measure and analyze transit timing variations across a large sample of TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs). The pipeline retrieves light curves, cleans the data, and performs a two-stage transit fitting process using the Mandel & Agol transit model to extract mid-transit times [1]. These times are then used to generate the Observed minus Calculated (O-C) plots, which are visually inspected and categorized based on their timing behavior. The inclusion of limb-darkening coefficients, SNR filtering, and automated residual minimization ensures high-precision timing measurements. In total, 830 TOI’s were passed through the pipeline. 279 of the generated O-C plots were analyzed by hand; several showed strong sinusoidal patterns, indicating the possible presence of non-transiting neighboring planets. By doubling the number of TESS systems with measured transit times, this project not only contributes a valuable dataset but also establishes an algorithm for future TTV studies.

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University of British Columbia. ASTR_V 349

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0449033

Science, Faculty of; Physics and Astronomy, Department of

Undergraduate

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