The Directly-Imaged Exoplanet Host Star 51 Eridani is a Gamma Doradus Pulsator

Abstract: 51 Eri is well known for hosting a directly-imaged giant planet and for its membership to the $\beta$ Pictoris moving group. Using two-minute cadence photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we detect multi-periodic variability in 51 Eri that is consistent with pulsations of Gamma Doradus ($\gamma$ Dor) stars. We identify the most significant pulsation modes (with frequencies between $\sim$0.5-3.9 cycles/day and amplitudes ranging between $\sim$1-2 mmag) as dipole and quadrupole gravity-modes, as well as Rossby modes, as previously observed in Kepler $\gamma$ Dor stars. Our results demonstrate that previously reported variability attributed to stellar rotation is instead likely due to $\gamma$ Dor pulsations. Using the mean frequency of the $l=1$ gravity-modes, together with empirical trends of the Kepler $\gamma$ Dor population, we estimate a plausible stellar core rotation period of 0.9$^{+0.3}_{-0.1}$ days for 51 Eri. We find no significant evidence for transiting companions around 51 Eri in the residual light curve. The detection of $\gamma$ Dor pulsations presented here, together with follow-up observations and modeling, may enable the determination of an asteroseismic age for this benchmark system. Future TESS observations would allow a constraint on the stellar core rotation rate, which in turn traces the surface rotation rate, and thus would help clarify whether or not the stellar equatorial plane and orbit of 51 Eri b are coplanar.