Spin-Orbit Misalignment and Precession in the Kepler-13Ab Planetary System

Gravity darkening induced by rapid stellar rotation provides us with a unique opportunity to characterize the spin–orbit misalignment of a planetary system through analysis of its photometric transit. We use the gravity-darkened transit modeling code simuTrans to reproduce the transit light curve of Kepler-13Ab by separately analyzing phase-folded transits for 12 short-cadence Kepler quarters. We verify the temporal change in impact parameter indicative of spin–orbit precession identified by Szabo et al. and Masuda, reporting a rate of change day−1. We further investigate the effect of light dilution on the fitted impact parameter and find that less than 1% of additional light is sufficient to explain the seasonal variation seen in the Kepler quarter data. We then extend our precession analysis to the phase curve data from which we report a rate of change day−1. This value is consistent with that of the transit data at a lower significance and provides the first evidence of spin–orbit precession based solely on the temporal variation of the secondary eclipse.