  IW ../submit_V2/abstract.txt ( Row 1 Col 1 6:48 Ctrl-K H for help We report
the discovery by the HATSouth network of HATS-7b, a transiting Super-Neptune
with a mass of 0.120+/-0.012MJ, a radius of 0.563+/-(0.046,0.034)RJ, and an
orbital period of 3.1853days. The host star is a moderately bright
(V=13.340+/-0.010mag, K_S=10.976+/-0.026mag) K dwarf star with a mass of
0.849+/-0.027Msun , a radius of 0.815+/-(0.049,-0.035)Rsun, and a metallicity
of [Fe/H]=+0.250+/-0.080. The star is photometrically quiet to within the
precision of the HATSouth measurements and has low RV jitter. HATS-7b is the
second smallest radius planet discovered by a wide-field ground-based transit
survey, and one of only a handful of Neptune-size planets with mass and radius
determined to 10% precision. Theoretical modeling of HATS-7b yields a
hydrogen-helium fraction of 18+/-4% (rock-iron core and H2-He envelope), or
9+/-4% (ice core and H2-He envelope), i.e.it has a composition broadly similar
to that of Uranus and Neptune, and very different from that of Saturn, which
has 75% of its mass in H2-He. Based on a sample of transiting exoplanets with
accurately (<20%) determined parameters, we establish approximate power-law
relations for the envelopes of the mass-density distribution of exoplanets.
HATS-7b, which, together with the recently discovered HATS-8b, is one of the
first two transiting super-Neptunes discovered in the Southern sky, is a prime
target for additional follow-up observations with Southern hemisphere
facilities to characterize the atmospheres of Super-Neptunes (which we define
as objects with mass greater than that of Neptune, and smaller than halfway
between that of Neptune and Saturn, i.e. 0.054 MJ<Mp<0.18 MJ).

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics