MuSCAT2 multicolour validation of TESS candidates: an ultra-short-period substellar object around an M dwarf

Abstract

Context. We report the discovery of TOI 263.01 (TIC 120916706), a transiting substellar object (R = 0.87 R-Jup) orbiting a faint M3.5 V dwarf (V = 18.97) on a 0.56 d orbit.Aims. We setout to determine the nature of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) planet candidate TOI 263.01 using ground-based multicolour transit photometry. The host star is faint, which makes radial-velocity confirmation challenging, but the large transit depth makes the candidate suitable for validation through multicolour photometry.Methods. Our analysis combines three transits observed simultaneously in r, i ', and z(s) bands usingthe MuSCAT2 multicolour imager, three LCOGT-observed transit light curves in g ', r ', and i ' bands, a TESS light curve from Sector 3, and a low-resolution spectrum for stellar characterisation observed with the ALFOSC spectrograph. We modelled the light curves with PYTRANSIT using a transit model that includes a physics-based light contamination component, allowing us to estimate the contamination from unresolved sources from the multicolour photometry. Using this information we were able to derive the true planet-star radius ratio marginalised over the contamination allowed by the photometry.Combining this with the stellar radius, we were able to make a reliable estimate of the absolute radius of the object.Results. The ground-based photometry strongly excludes contamination from unresolved sources with a significant colour difference to TOI 263. Furthermore, contamination from sources of the same stellar type as the host is constrained to levels where the true radius ratio posterior has a median of 0.217 and a 99 percentile of0.286. The median and maximum radius ratios correspond to absolute planet radii of 0.87 and 1.41 R-Jup, respectively,which confirms the substellar nature of the planet candidate. The object is either a giant planetor a brown dwarf (BD) located deep inside the so-called "brown dwarf desert". Both possibilities offer a challenge to current planet/BD formation models and make TOI 263.01 an object that merits in-depth follow-up studies.