The Kinematic and Chemical Properties of the Close-in Planet Host Star 8 UMi

A recent study by Hon et al. reported that a close-in planet around the red clump star, 8 UMi, should have been engulfed during the expansion phase of its parent star’s evolution. They explained the survival of this exoplanet through a binary-merger channel for 8 UMi. The key to testing this formation scenario is to derive the true age of this star: is it an old “imposter” resulting from a binary merger, or a genuinely young red clump giant? To accomplish this, we derive kinematic and chemical properties for 8 UMi using astrometric data from Gaia DR3 and the element-abundance pattern measured from a high-resolution ( R ∼ 75,000) spectrum taken by SOPHIE. Our analysis shows that 8 UMi is a normal thin-disk star with orbital rotation speed of V ϕ = 244.96 km s −1 , and possesses a solar metallicity ([Fe/H] = −0.05 ± 0.07) and α -element-abundance ratio ([ α /Fe] = +0.01 ± 0.03). By adopting well-established relationships between age and space velocities/elemental abundances, we estimate a kinematic age of 3.50 − 2.00 + 3.00 Gyr, and a chemical age of 3.25 − 1.50 + 2.50 Gyr from [C/N] and 3.47 ± 1.96 Gyr from [Y/Mg] for 8 UMi, respectively. These estimates are consistent with the isochrone-fitting age ( 1.90 − 0.30 + 1.15 Gyr) of 8 UMi, but are all much younger than the timescale required in a binary-merger scenario. This result challenges the binary-merger model; the existence of such a closely orbiting exoplanet around a giant star remains a mystery yet to be resolved.