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Creators/Authors contains: "Vowell, Noah"

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  1. Abstract We present the discovery of 11 new transiting brown dwarfs (BDs) and low-mass M dwarfs from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission: TOI-2844, TOI-3122, TOI-3577, TOI-3755, TOI-4462, TOI-4635, TOI-4737, TOI-4759, TOI-5240, TOI-5467, and TOI-5882. They consist of five BD companions and six very-low-mass stellar companions ranging in mass from 25MJto 128MJ. We used a combination of photometric time-series, spectroscopic, and high-resolution imaging follow-up as a part of the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (or TFOP) to characterize each system. With over 50 transiting BDs confirmed, we now have a large enough sample to directly test different formation and evolutionary scenarios. We provide a renewed perspective on the transiting “brown dwarf desert” and its role in differentiating between planetary and stellar formation mechanisms. Our analysis of the eccentricity distribution for the transiting BD sample does not support previous claims of a transition between planetary and stellar formation at ∼42MJ. We also contribute a first look into the metallicity distribution of transiting companions in the range 7–150MJ, showing that this does not support a ∼42MJtransition too. Finally, we also detect a significant lithium absorption feature in one of the BD hosts (TOI-5882). However, we determine that the host star is likely old based on rotation, kinematic, and photometric mdeasurements. We therefore claim that TOI-5882 may be a candidate for planetary engulfment. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available July 4, 2026
  2. Abstract We introduce the OATMEAL survey, an effort to measure the obliquities of stars with transiting brown dwarf companions. We observed a transit of the close-in (Porb= 1.74 days) brown dwarf GPX-1 b using the Keck Planet Finder spectrograph to measure the sky-projected angle between its orbital axis and the spin axis of its early F-type host star (λ). We measuredλ= 6.°9 ± 10.°0, suggesting an orbit that is prograde and well aligned with the stellar equator. Hot Jupiters around early F stars are frequently found to have highly misaligned orbits, with polar and retrograde orbits being commonplace. It has been theorized that these misalignments stem from dynamical interactions, such as von Zeipel–Kozai–Lidov cycles, and are retained over long timescales due to weak tidal dissipation in stars with radiative envelopes. By comparing GPX-1 to similar systems under the frameworks of different tidal evolution theories, we argued that the rate of tidal dissipation is too slow to have re-aligned the system. This suggests that GPX-1 may have arrived at its close-in orbit via coplanar high-eccentricity migration or migration through an aligned protoplanetary disk. Our result for GPX-1 is one of few measurements of the obliquity of a star with a transiting brown dwarf. By enlarging the number of such measurements and comparing them with hot-Jupiter systems, we will more clearly discern the differences between the mechanisms that dictate the formation and evolution of both classes of objects. 
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  3. Abstract Hot Jupiters were many of the first exoplanets discovered in the 1990s, but in the decades since their discovery the mysteries surrounding their origins have remained. Here we present nine new hot Jupiters (TOI-1855 b, TOI-2107 b, TOI-2368 b, TOI-3321 b, TOI-3894 b, TOI-3919 b, TOI-4153 b, TOI-5232 b, and TOI-5301 b) discovered by NASA’sTESSmission and confirmed using ground-based imaging and spectroscopy. These discoveries are the first in a series of papers named the Migration and Evolution of giant ExoPlanets survey and are part of an ongoing effort to build a complete sample of hot Jupiters orbiting FGK stars, with a limiting GaiaG-band magnitude of 12.5. This effort aims to use homogeneous detection and analysis techniques to generate a set of precisely measured stellar and planetary properties that is ripe for statistical analysis. The nine planets presented in this work occupy a range of masses (0.55MJ<MP< 3.88MJ) and sizes (0.967RJ<RP< 1.438RJ) and orbit stars that have an effective temperature in the range of 5360 K <Teff< 6860 K with GaiaG-band magnitudes ranging from 11.1 to 12.7. Two of the planets in our sample have detectable orbital eccentricity: TOI-3919 b ( e = 0.259 0.036 + 0.033 ) and TOI-5301 b ( e = 0.33 0.10 + 0.11 ). These eccentric planets join a growing sample of eccentric hot Jupiters that are consistent with high-eccentricity tidal migration, one of the three most prominent theories explaining hot Jupiter formation and evolution. 
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  4. ABSTRACT We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) -- TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), and TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9 <G < 11.8, 7.7 <K < 10.1). Using a combination of time-series photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations from the TESS Follow-up Observing Program Working Group, we have determined that the planets are Jovian-sized (RP  = 0.99--1.45 RJ), have masses ranging from 0.92 to 5.26 MJ, and orbit F, G, and K stars (4766 ≤ Teff ≤ 7360 K). We detect a significant orbital eccentricity for the three longest-period systems in our sample: TOI-2025 b (P  = 8.872 d, 0.394$$^{+0.035}_{-0.038}$$), TOI-2145 b (P  = 10.261 d, e  = $$0.208^{+0.034}_{-0.047}$$), and TOI-2497 b (P  = 10.656 d, e  = $$0.195^{+0.043}_{-0.040}$$). TOI-2145 b and TOI-2497 b both orbit subgiant host stars (3.8 < log  g <4.0), but these planets show no sign of inflation despite very high levels of irradiation. The lack of inflation may be explained by the high mass of the planets; $$5.26^{+0.38}_{-0.37}$$ MJ (TOI-2145 b) and 4.82 ± 0.41 MJ (TOI-2497 b). These six new discoveries contribute to the larger community effort to use TESS to create a magnitude-complete, self-consistent sample of giant planets with well-determined parameters for future detailed studies. 
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