The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG: VI. The curious case of TrES-4b

We update the TrES-4 system parameters using high-precision HARPS-N radial-velocity measurements and new photometric light curves. A combined spectroscopic and photometric analysis allows us to determine a spectroscopic orbit with a semi-amplitude K = 51 ± 3 m s-1. The derived mass of TrES-4b is found to be Mp = 0.49 ± 0.04 MJup, significantly lower than previously reported. Combined with the large radius () inferred from our analysis, TrES-4b becomes the transiting hot Jupiter with the second-lowest density known. We discuss several scenarios to explain the puzzling discrepancy in the mass of TrES-4b in the context of the exotic class of highly inflated transiting giant planets. Based on observations made with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) operated on the island of La Palma by the Fundacion Galileo Galilei of the INAF at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the IAC in the frame of the program Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS), and with the Zeiss 1.23-m telescope at the German-Spanish Astronomical Center at Calar Alto, Spain. Tables 1 and 3 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org