The GAPS programme at TNG LXXIX. New mass constraints for the infant planets in the V1298 Tau system through a long-term radial velocity monitoring with HARPS-N

Abstract

We aim to constrain the dynamical masses of the four confirmed transiting planets orbiting the infant ($20\pm10$ Myr) star V1298,Tau (orbital periods $P_b\sim$24.1 d, $P_c\sim$8.2 d, $P_d\sim$12.4 d, and $P_e\sim$48.7 d), through a new analysis of a homogeneous radial velocity dataset. This system is a key benchmark for testing formation and early-stage evolutionary models of planets. We analysed more than 380 high-resolution spectra collected with the HARPS-N spectrograph over a time span of 4.5,yr. To account for dominant stellar activity and transit-timing-derived planet-planet interactions, we analysed radial velocities extracted using two different approaches, and combined N-body simulations with multi-dimensional Gaussian process regression. We tested a set of spectroscopic and photometric activity diagnostics to mitigate the variability due to the stellar magnetic activity in the radial velocity time series. The mass determinations are sensitive to the choice of the radial velocity extraction method and activity diagnostics. For some specific models, we measured masses with a significance of 3.5--4$σ$ for planets b ($0.52^{+0.12}{-0.14}$, $0.65^{+0.21}{-0.18}$, $0.67\pm0.16$, and $0.78^{+0.19}{-0.20}$ $M_{\rm Jup}$) and e (0.40$^{+0.14}{-0.13}$, 0.66$^{+0.17}{-0.18}$, and $0.71\pm0.20$ $M_{\rm Jup}$). These values are compatible with masses of giant planets, and are notably higher than those recently derived from transit timing variations alone, which indicate that these are low-density ``super-puffy'' planets. Injection-and-recovery simulations moderately support this conclusion for planet b. For planets c and d, we primarily provide updated mass upper limits. Our analysis represents an exploratory study to address the complex issue of mass measurement in a multi-planetary system characterised by high levels of stellar activity.