Title:  Studying Exoplanets using TTV Method

Speaker: 马波

Institute: 中山大学

Host: 任彬

Time: 2025.9.4 周四 14:30

Location: 物理楼 552

Abstract:

The transit timing variation (TTV) method has been widely used to study the dynamical properties of planetary systems around distant stars. Unlike traditional single-planet detection techniques—such as radial velocity or basic transit photometry—which treat each world independently, TTV analysis tracks small deviations in a planet’s transit times caused by the pull of neighboring companions. These periodic shifts encode critical information about system architecture: mutual inclinations, mass ratios, orbital spacing, and resonant configurations. By modeling observed TTV patterns using N-body simulations, we constrain additional undetected planets via secular perturbations. TTV is also used to track the orbital decay of close-in planets caused likely by tidal interaction between planets and host stars. High-precision space telescopes like Kepler, K2, and TESS provide ideal datasets for this technique. Here we will review the main findings using TTV technique，and report our group‘s recent progress using this technique.

Bio: 

马波 副教授，博士生导师，目前在中山大学物理与天文学院任教。本科毕业于南京大学天文系，博士毕业于佛罗里达大学天文系。主要研究方向是使用视向速度法和凌星法探测和刻画太阳系外行星系统，对太阳系外行星的大气组成进行研究，以及统计研究类星体的吸收线特征。