Asymmetric transit curves as indication of orbital obliquity: Clues from the brown dwarf companion in KOI-13

Abstract

Exoplanets orbiting rapidly rotating stars may have unusual light curve shapes. These objects transit across an oblate disk with non-isotropic surface brightness, caused by the gravitational darkening. If such asymmetries are measured, one can infer the orbital obliquity of the exoplanet and the gravity darkened star, even without the analysis of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect or interferometry. Here we introduce KOI-13 as the first example of a transiting system with a gravity darkened star. © International Astronomical Union 2012.