TOI-3235 b: A Transiting Giant Planet around an M4 Dwarf Star

We present the discovery of TOI-3235 b, a short-period Jupiter orbiting an M dwarf with a stellar mass close to the critical mass at which stars transition from partially to fully convective. TOI-3235 b was first identified as a candidate from TESS photometry and confirmed with radial velocities from ESPRESSO and ground-based photometry from HATSouth, MEarth-South, TRAPPIST-South, LCOGT, and ExTrA. We find that the planet has a mass of 0.665 +/- 0.025 M-J and a radius of 1.017 +/- 0.044 R-J. It orbits close to its host star, with an orbital period of 2.5926 days but has an equilibrium temperature of approximate to 604 K, well below the expected threshold for radius inflation of hot Jupiters. The host star has a mass of 0.3939 +/- 0.0030 M-circle dot, a radius of 0.3697 +/- 0.0018 R-circle dot;, an effective temperature of 3389 K, and a J-band magnitude of 11.706 +/- 0.025. Current planet formation models do not predict the existence of gas giants such as TOI-3235 b around such low-mass stars. With a high transmission spectroscopy metric, TOI-3235 b is one of the best-suited giants orbiting M dwarfs for atmospheric characterization.

Automated summary

We have discovered TOI-3235 b, a short-period Jupiter orbiting an M dwarf star close to the transition point from partially to fully convective. The planet was identified through TESS photometry and later confirmed with radial velocities and ground-based photometry. With a mass of 0.665 +/- 0.025 M-J and a radius of 1.017 +/- 0.044 R-J, TOI-3235 b orbits its host star closely but has a lower equilibrium temperature than expected for hot Jupiters. This discovery challenges current planet formation models and makes TOI-3235 b a suitable target for atmospheric characterization.