POSEIDON I: The Dynamical Origins of Transiting Neptunes

We present the first results from the POSEIDON survey, aimed at constraining the dynamical origins of transiting Neptunes through stellar obliquity measurements. We report Rossiter–McLaughlin observations of two Neptunes, TOI-181 b and TOI-883 b, obtained with high-resolution spectroscopy from Magellan/Planet Finder Spectrograph and WIYN/NEID. TOI-181 b is on a 4.5-day orbit with a sky-projected spin–orbit misalignment (Formula presented) λ=32.°0−6.°5+6.°3 and a low eccentricity (e  <  0.12 with 2σ confidence). TOI-883 b has a longer orbital period of 10 days with (Formula presented) λ=22°−14°+15° and eccentricity e = 0.16 ± 0.03. The significant misalignment of TOI-181 b and the significant eccentricity of TOI-883 b are suggestive of high-eccentricity migration for both systems. After adding these and other new measurements to the sample, we analyze the obliquity distribution of the host stars of transiting Neptunes. Earlier studies had suggested that the obliquity distribution is bimodal, with peaks corresponding to aligned orbits and polar orbits; the addition of more measurements has weakened the evidence for bimodality. The current sample appears to be consistent with a population of well-aligned systems and a smaller population with nearly random obliquities. This distribution resembles that observed for more massive planets, suggesting that transiting Jupiters and Neptunes originate from similar dynamical processes.