Catalog values for 2,668 Gaia DR3 SB1 entries with periods below 10 days fail a detached-star test under a periastron Roche model
We test whether Gaia DR3 orbit and stellar values can describe detached binary stars. The scope is SB1 entries with periods below 10 days. A bound on the periastron-scaled Eggleton Roche model permits every positive companion mass. The archive query returns 39,760 entries. Of these, 27,397 have complete, valid stellar and orbit inputs. At a favorable input corner, 2,668 fail the necessary condition. This corner uses the lower FLAME radius, upper FLAME mass, larger period, and smaller eccentricity. It defines a sensitivity box, not a confidence region. Setting eccentricity to zero leaves 2,558 failures. Also halving radius and doubling primary mass leaves 819. A velocity-amplitude significance of at least 40 leaves 15 favorable failures and eight combined-stress failures. Four of the eight also pass the selected astrometry and FLAME-flag checks. A second Gaia radius product supports 2,499 of the 2,668 favorable failures. A separate geometric calculation gives conditional total-mass budgets. Independent decimal arithmetic reproduces the numerical results. The conflicts can arise from orbit errors, stellar errors, interacting binaries, blends, or model limits. They do not establish new planets or compact objects. The package provides the proof, source queries and hashes, derived tables, figures, and reproduction code. Source Gaia tables remain at the archive under their original terms.
Gaia DR3 · spectroscopic binaries · Roche lobe · stellar radius · catalog consistency · reproducible astronomy
References
10- usesdoi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629272
The Gaia mission supplies the observations.
- usesdoi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940
We use Gaia Data Release 3.
- usesdoi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243782
We use the binary catalog. This prior study already applies Roche limits and significance cuts to giant-star SB1 entries.
- usesdoi:10.1051/0004-6361/202450600
This paper describes the SB1 processing chain and its limits.
- usesdoi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243688
We use FLAME and GSP-Phot stellar products.
- usesdoi:10.1086/160960
We bound the Eggleton volume-radius formula over all positive mass ratios.
- doi:10.1086/513736
This work explains why an instantaneous-separation Roche formula can fail in eccentric or asynchronous systems.
- doi:10.1093/mnras/stac2928
External velocities expose spurious Gaia SB1 orbits. Our audit does not repeat that validation.
- usesdoi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/41
We use the IAU nominal solar mass parameter and radius.
- Valid Gaia DR3 SB1 orbits require companions above 0.08 solar masses for TOI-6936.01 and TOI-7590.01 sci:sha256:0c7eca695c8dfeb93628168c5be26fd92961d46b9439ba01ab1aaaacd41fdcf9
This related study uses valid SB1 orbits to bound companion mass. Our audit tests orbit and stellar-value consistency.
Cited by
6 publicationsPublic catalog entries on Sciscape.
- supportsTESS shows too few eclipses at the Gaia DR3 SB1 periods of 13-80 MJ companions of FGK dwarfs: at least 27% of these orbits at 0.5-20 d are not real (95%, stellar-control calibration)
A periastron Roche test found that 2,668 Gaia DR3 SB1 entries at P < 10 d fail a detached-star test. Our Roche test at P < 0.5 d agrees.
- usesGaia eclipse periods disagree with 32 of 39 SB1 entries flagged by a detached-star test in a 1,643-source sample
We reuse the published source flags and favorable-input ratios. We test them against eclipse periods and TESS aperture clocks.
- supportsFewer than 10 % of Gaia DR3 SB1 orbits with m2min < 0.08 Msun are real: TESS shows 14 transits where 404 are expected (P ≤ 16 d) and 65 ellipsoidal signals where 922 are expected (r = 1)
They found that 2,668 Gaia DR3 SB1 entries with P < 10 d fail a detached-star test. We find that fewer than 10 % of the SB1 orbits with m2min < 0.08 Msun and P <= 16 d are real.
- usesTested sine models show over 96 percent reduction of the 7.5-day amplitude in final QLP data for TIC 12189121 in TESS sector 92
We reuse its four-row priority selection. We do not repeat its wider catalog test.
- usesTESS photometry shows that under 1% of Gaia DR3 SB1 orbits at 0.25-0.3 d and 2.6-6% at 0.3-0.5 d are real, for dwarf hosts, minimum companion mass below 0.15 Msun and ellipsoidal model scale 0.22-1
We use its Roche-test flag table. TESS rules out 330 of its 351 flagged orbits in our sample, which supports the flags.
- usesTESS data show that less than 7 % of Roche-allowed Gaia DR3 SB1 orbits with M2 sin i < 80 MJ around dwarf stars are real (mainly P < 4 d; desert mass prior), against 23-34 % for 80-150 MJ
We use the same type of periastron and Roche-lobe test to separate allowed and impossible SB1 orbits. Our TESS results support its conclusion that many short-period Gaia DR3 SB1 solutions are not physical, and extend it to the orbits that pass this test.