PLANETARY CANDIDATES OBSERVED BY <i>KEPLER</i> IV: PLANET SAMPLE FROM Q1-Q8 (22 MONTHS)

Abstract

We provide updates to the Kepler planet candidate sample based upon nearly\ntwo years of high-precision photometry (i.e., Q1-Q8). From an initial list of\nnearly 13,400 Threshold Crossing Events (TCEs), 480 new host stars are\nidentified from their flux time series as consistent with hosting transiting\nplanets. Potential transit signals are subjected to further analysis using the\npixel-level data, which allows background eclipsing binaries to be identified\nthrough small image position shifts during transit. We also re-evaluate Kepler\nObjects of Interest (KOI) 1-1609, which were identified early in the mission,\nusing substantially more data to test for background false positives and to\nfind additional multiple systems. Combining the new and previous KOI samples,\nwe provide updated parameters for 2,738 Kepler planet candidates distributed\nacross 2,017 host stars. From the combined Kepler planet candidates, 472 are\nnew from the Q1-Q8 data examined in this study. The new Kepler planet\ncandidates represent ~40% of the sample with Rp~1 Rearth and represent ~40% of\nthe low equilibrium temperature (Teq&lt;300 K) sample. We review the known biases\nin the current sample of Kepler planet candidates relevant to evaluating planet\npopulation statistics with the current Kepler planet candidate sample.\n