The Period Distribution of Hot Jupiters is Not Dependent on Host Star Metallicity

Abstract

The probability that a Sun-like star has a close-orbiting giant planet (period < 1 year) increases with stellar metallicity. Previous work provided evidence that the period distribution of close-orbiting giant planets is also linked to metallicity, hinting that there two formation/evolution pathways for such objects, one of which is more probable in high-metallicity environments. Here, we check for differences in the period distribution of hot Jupiters (P < 10 days) as a function of host star metallicity, drawing on a sample of 232 transiting hot Jupiters and homogeneously-derived metallicities from Gaia Data Release 3. We found no evidence for any metallicity dependence; the period distributions of hot Jupiters around metal-poor and metal-rich stars are indistinguishable. As a byproduct of this study, we provide transformations between metallicities from the Gaia Radial Velocity Spectrograph and from traditional high-resolution optical spectroscopy of main-sequence FGK stars.