The Migration and Evolution of Eccentric Planets (MEEP) Survey

In the thirty years since the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, a Hot Jupiter orbiting a G star, we have yet to discern the primary mechanism by which giant planets migrate to compact orbital configurations. Planets either migrate slowly within the protoplanetary disk or undergo high-eccentricity tidal migration and are placed onto highly eccentric and misaligned orbits (relative to the star’s spin axis). To disentangle which mechanism dominates the large-scale migration of giant planets, we are discovering and characterizing new hot Jupiters from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. Our goal over the next few years is to build a magnitude-complete, homogenous sample of Hot Jupiters orbiting bright stars (G < 12.5) in order to measure precise radii, masses, and eccentricities, and compare to the predicted distribution of the two migration theories. Here, we present the discovery of ten new hot Jupiters from TESS orbiting FGK stars with periods between 1 and 8 days, confirmed through radial velocity monitoring. I will discuss how these newly discovered Hot Jupiters fit into the context of the current population, and how the population so far compares to theoretical predictions of planet migration.