A Reanalysis of the Composition of K2-106b: An Ultra-short-period Super-Mercury Candidate

Abstract

We present a reanalysis of the K2-106 transiting planetary system, with a focus on the composition of K2-106b, an ultra-short-period, super-Mercury candidate. We globally model existing photometric and radial velocity data and derive a planetary mass and radius for K2-106b of M _p = 8.53 ± 1.02 M _⊕ and ${R}_{p}={1.71}_{-0.057}^{+0.069}\,{R}_{\oplus }$ , which leads to a density of ${\rho }_{p}={9.4}_{-1.5}^{+1.6}$ g cm^-3, a significantly lower value than previously reported in the literature. We use planet interior models that assume a two-layer planet comprised of a liquid, pure Fe core and an iron-free, MgSiO₃ mantle, and we determine that the range of the core mass fractions are consistent with the observed mass and radius. We use existing high-resolution spectra of the host star to derive the Fe/Mg/Si abundances ([Fe/H] = -0.03 ± 0.01, [Mg/H] = 0.04 ± 0.02, [Si/H] = 0.03 ± 0.06) to infer the composition of K2-106b. We find that K2-106b has a density and core mass fraction ( ${44}_{-15}^{+12} \% $ ) consistent with that of Earth (CMF_⊕ = 32%). Furthermore, its composition is consistent with what is expected, assuming that it reflects the relative refractory abundances of its host star. K2-106b is therefore unlikely to be a super-Mercury, as has been suggested in previous literature.