The DIAmante TESS AutoRegressive Planet Search (DTARPS) project, using novel
statistical methods, has identified several hundred candidates for transiting
planetary systems obtained from 0.9 million Full Frame Image light curves
obtained in the TESS Year 1 southern hemisphere survey (Melton et al. 2022a and
2022b). Several lines of evidence, including limited reconnaissance
spectroscopy, indicate that at least half are true planets rather than False
Positives. Here various population properties of these objects are examined.
Half of the DTARPS candidates are hot Neptunes, populating the 'Neptune desert'
found in Kepler planet samples. The DTARPS samples also identify dozens of
Ultra Short Period planets with orbital periods down to 5 hours, high priority
systems for atmospheric transimssion spectroscopy, and planets orbiting
low-mass M stars. DTARPS methodology is sufficiently well-characterized at each
step that preliminary planet occurrence rates can be estimated. Except for the
increase in hot Neptunes, DTARPS planet occurrence rates are consistent with
Kepler rates. Overall, DTARPS provides one of the largest and most reliable
catalog of TESS exoplanet candidates that can be tapped to improve our
understanding of various exoplanetary populations and astrophysical processes.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figures, submitted to the AAS Journals February 13, 202