Follow-up Photometry in Another Band Helps to Reduce Kepler’s False-positive Rates

Abstract

Abstract The Kepler mission’s single-band photometry suffers from astrophysical false positives, most commonly of background eclipsing binaries (BEBs) and companion transiting planets (CTPs). Multicolor photometry can reveal the color-dependent depth feature of false positives and thus exclude them. In this work, we aim to estimate the fraction of false positives that cannot be classified by Kepler alone but can be identified from their color-dependent depth feature if a reference band (z, K s , and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)) is adopted in follow-up observation. We construct physics-based blend models to simulate multiband signals of false positives. Nearly 65%–95% of the BEBs and more than 80% of the CTPs that host a Jupiter-sized planet will show detectable depth variations if the reference band can achieve a Kepler-like precision. The K s band is most effective in eliminating BEBs exhibiting features of any depth, while the z and TESS bands are better for identifying giant candidates, and their identification rates are more sensitive to photometric precision. Given the radius distribution of planets transiting the secondary star in binary systems, we derive a formalism to calculate the overall identification rate for CTPs. By comparing the likelihood distribution of the double-band depth ratio for BEB and planet models, we calculate the false-positive probability (FPP) for typical Kepler candidates. Additionally, we show that the FPP calculation helps distinguish the planet candidate’s host star in an unresolved binary system. The framework of the analysis in this paper can be easily adapted to predict the multicolor photometric yield for other transit surveys, especially TESS.