Revisiting the proposed circumbinary multi-planet system NSVS14256825

Abstract

In this work we carry out an analysis of the observed times of primary and secondary eclipses of the post-common envelope binary NSVS14256825. Recently, \cite{Almeida2013} proposed that two circumbinary companions orbit this short-period eclipsing binary, in order to explain observed variations in the timing of mutual eclipses between the two binary components. Using a standard weighted least-squares minimisation technique, we have extensively explored the topology of $χ^2$ parameter space of a single planet model. We find the data set to be insufficient to reliably constrain a one-companion model. Various models, each with similar statistical significance, result in substantially different orbital architectures for the additional companion. No evidence is seen for a second companion of planetary nature. We suspect insufficient coverage (baseline) of timing data causing the best-fit parameters to be unconstrained.

27 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication, MNRAS