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The consistently low activity level of the old solar analog 51 Peg not only facilitated the discovery of the first hot Jupiter, but also led to the suggestion that the star could be experiencing a magnetic grand minimum. However, the 50 yr time series showing minimal chromospheric variability could also be associated with the onset of weakened magnetic braking (WMB), where sufficiently slow rotation disrupts cycling activity and the production of large-scale magnetic fields by the stellar dynamo, thereby shrinking the Alfvén radius and inhibiting the efficient loss of angular momentum to magnetized stellar winds. In this Letter, we evaluate the magnetic evolutionary state of 51 Peg by estimating its wind braking torque. We use new spectropolarimetric measurements from the Large Binocular Telescope to reconstruct the large-scale magnetic morphology, we reanalyze archival X-ray measurements to estimate the mass-loss rate, and we detect solar-like oscillations in photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, yielding precise stellar properties from asteroseismology. Our estimate of the wind braking torque for 51 Peg clearly places it in the WMB regime, driven by changes in the mass-loss rate and the magnetic field strength and morphology that substantially exceed theoretical expectations. Although our revised stellar properties have minimal consequences for the characterization of the exoplanet, they have interesting implications for the current space weather environment of the system.

HIP 65426 hosts a young giant planet that has become the first exoplanet directly imaged with JWST. Using time-series photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we classify HIP 65426 as a high-frequency δ Scuti pulsator with a possible large-frequency separation of Δ ν = 7.23 ± 0.02 cycles day ^−1 . We check the TESS data for pulsation-timing variations and use the nondetection to estimate a 95% dynamical mass upper limit of 12.8 M _Jup for HIP 65426 b. We also identify a low-frequency region of signal that we interpret as stellar latitudinal differential rotation with two rapid periods of 7.85 ± 0.08 hr and 6.67 ± 0.04 hr. We use our TESS rotation periods together with published values of radius and $v\sin i$ to jointly measure the inclination of HIP 65426 to ${i}_{\star }={107}_{-11}^{+12}$ °. Our stellar inclination is consistent with the orbital inclination of HIP 65426 b ( ${108}_{-3}^{+6}$ °) at the 68% percent level based on our orbit fit using published relative astrometry. The lack of significant evidence for spin–orbit misalignment in the HIP 65426 system supports an emerging trend consistent with preferential alignment between imaged long-period giant planets and their host stars.

51 Eri is well known for hosting a directly imaged giant planet and for its membership to the β Pictoris moving group. Using 2 minute cadence photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we detect multiperiodic variability in 51 Eri that is consistent with pulsations of Gamma Doradus ( γ Dor) stars. We identify the most significant pulsation modes (with frequencies between ∼0.5 and 3.9 cycles day ^−1 and amplitudes ranging between ∼1 and 2 mmag) as dipole and quadrupole gravity modes, as well as Rossby modes, as previously observed in Kepler γ Dor stars. Our results demonstrate that previously reported variability attributed to stellar rotation is instead likely due to γ Dor pulsations. Using the mean frequency of the ℓ = 1 gravity modes, together with empirical trends of the Kepler γ Dor population, we estimate a plausible stellar core rotation period of ${0.9}_{-0.1}^{+0.3}$ days for 51 Eri. We find no significant evidence for transiting companions around 51 Eri in the residual light curve. The detection of γ Dor pulsations presented here, together with follow-up observations and modeling, may enable the determination of an asteroseismic age for this benchmark system. Future TESS observations would allow a constraint on the stellar core rotation rate, which in turn traces the surface rotation rate, and thus would help clarify whether or not the stellar equatorial plane and orbit of 51 Eri b are coplanar.

Debris disks are extrasolar analogs to our own Kuiper Belt and they are detected around at least 17% of nearby Sun-like stars. The morphology and dynamics of a disk encode information about its history, as well as that of any exoplanets within the system. We used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to obtain 1.3 mm observations of the debris disk around the nearby F5V star HD 170773. We image the face-on ring and determine its fundamental parameters by forward-modeling the interferometric visibilities through a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach. Using a symmetric Gaussian surface density profile, we find a 71 ± 4 au wide belt with a radius of au, a relatively large radius compared with most other millimeter-resolved belts around late A/early F type stars. This makes HD 170773 part of a group of four disks around A and F stars with radii larger than expected from the recently reported planetesimal belt radius—stellar luminosity relation. Two of these systems are known to host directly imaged giant planets, which may point to a connection between large belts and the presence of long-period giant planets. We also set upper limits on the presence of CO and CN gas in the system, which imply that the exocomets that constitute this belt have CO and HCN ice mass fractions of <77% and <3%, respectively. This is consistent with solar system comets and other exocometary belts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]