$\texttt{triceratops}$: A Tool for Rapid Validation of $\textit{TESS}$ Objects of Interest and Application to 424 Planet Candidates

Steven Giacalone, Courtney D. Dressing

Published 2020-02-03Version 1

We present a new tool, $\texttt{triceratops}$, that can be used to rapidly validate $\textit{TESS}$ Objects of Interest (TOIs). We test this procedure on 213 TOIs that have been previously confirmed as planets or rejected as astrophysical false positives. We find that our tool is generally able to distinguish bona fide planets from astrophysical false positives for TOIs with radii smaller than $8 R_\oplus$, and that it performs better when the candidate host is observed with a shorter cadence. We apply this procedure on 424 unclassified TOIs and identify 262 that have high probabilities of being bona fide planets and 61 that have high probabilities of being false positives. We discuss how this tool can be utilized for follow-up target prioritization and how it can be used in tandem with existing vetting tools to perform thorough validation analyses of planet candidates detected by $\textit{TESS}$.