TOI 540 b: A Planet Smaller than Earth Orbiting a Nearby Rapidly Rotating Low-mass Star

We present the discovery of TOI 540 b, a hot planet slightly smaller than Earth orbiting the low-mass star 2MASS J05051443-4756154. The planet has an orbital period of P = 1.239149 days (+/- 170 ms) and a radius of r = 0.903 +/- 0.052R(circle plus), and is likely terrestrial based on the observed mass-radius distribution of small exoplanets at similar insolations. The star is 14.008 pc away and we estimate its mass and radius to be M = 0.159 +/- 0.014 M-circle dot and R = 0.1895 +/- 0.0079R(circle dot), respectively. The star is distinctive in its very short rotational period of P-rot = 17.4264 +/- 0.0094 hr and correspondingly small Rossby number of 0.007 as well as its high X-ray-to-bolometric luminosity ratio of L-X/L-bol = 0.0028 based on a serendipitous XMM-Newton detection during a slew operation. This is consistent with the X-ray emission being observed at a maximum value of L-X/L-bol similar or equal to 10(-3) as predicted for the most rapidly rotating M dwarfs. TOI 540 b may be an alluring target to study atmospheric erosion due to the strong stellar X-ray emission. It is also among the most accessible targets for transmission and emission spectroscopy and eclipse photometry with the James Webb Space Telescope, and may permit Doppler tomography with high-resolution spectroscopy during transit. This discovery is based on precise photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and ground-based follow-up observations by the MEarth team.