TESS Observations of the Hot Jupiter Exoplanet XO-6b: No Evidence of Transit Timing Variations

From previous ground-based observations, the hot Jupiter exoplanet XO-6b was reported to exhibit apparently periodic transit timing variations (TTVs), with a semi-amplitude of 14 minutes and a period of about 450 days. These variations were interpreted as being due to a resonant perturbation between XO-6b and a hitherto unknown low-mass planet orbiting the same star. To understand this enigmatic planetary system better, we analysed three sectors of data, spanning over seven months, from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which produces high-quality light curves that are well suited to characterizing exoplanets and searching for TTVs. Here we present an updated orbital period of 3.76498937 days and a transit epoch of 2456652.7157 BJD (TDB). The planetary parameters we report, while consistent with their discovery values, have greatly improved precision. Notably, we find no evidence for TTVs: we can rule out TTVs greater than 2.5 minutes at the 3-sigma level. Therefore, the TESS data have sufficient precision and time baseline to reveal readily the previously reported TTVs of approximately 10 minutes. Our findings highlight TESS’s capabilities for robust follow-up, and confirm that TTVs are rarely seen in hot Jupiters, unlike is the case with small planets.