Modelling the Light Curves of Transiting Exomoons: a Zero-order Photodynamic Agent Added to the Transit and Light Curve Modeller

Abstract

Abstract Despite the ever-growing number of exoplanets discovered and the extensive analyses carried out to find their potential satellites, only two exomoon candidates, Kepler-1625b-i and Kepler-1708 b-i, have been discovered to date. A considerable amount of effort has been invested in the development of algorithms for modelling, searching, and detecting exomoons in exoplanetary light curves. In this work, we incorporate moon handling capabilities into the state-of-the-art and publicly available code, the Transit and Light Curve Modeller (TLCM). The code is designed for the analysis of transiting exoplanet systems with the inclusion of a wavelet-based noise handling algorithm. Here we present an updated version of TLCM that is capable of modelling a planet-moon system on an elliptical orbit around its host, while also accounting for mutual eclipses between the two bodies – a so-called photodynamic model.