A Distance-Limited Imaging Survey of Sub-Stellar Companions to Solar Neighborhood Stars

Abstract

We report techniques and results of a Palomar 200-inch (5 m) adaptive optics imaging survey of sub-stellar companions to solar-type stars. The survey consists of Ks coronagraphic observations of 21 FGK dwarfs out to 20 pc (median distance about 17 pc). At 1-arcsec separation (17 projected AU) from a typical target system, the survey achieves median sensitivities 7 mag fainter than the parent star. In terms of companion mass, that corresponds to sensitivities of 50MJ (1 Gyr), 70MJ (solar age), and 75MJ (10 Gyr), using the evolutionary models of Baraffe and colleagues. Using common proper motion to distinguish companions from field stars, we find that no system shows positive evidence of a previously unknown substellar companion (searchable separation about 20-250 projected AU at the median target distance).

29 pages, 5 figures. Carson et al. 2008, AJ, in press

References in corpus (4)

• Improved Age Estimation for Solar-Type Dwarfs Using Activity-Rotation Diagnostics
• The Gemini Deep Planet Survey -- GDPS
• Constraints on Extrasolar Planet Populations from VLT NACO/SDI and MMT SDI and Direct Adaptive Optics Imaging Surveys: Giant Planets are Rare at Large Separations
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Cited by in corpus (4)

• The International Deep Planet Survey II: The frequency of directly imaged giant exoplanets with stellar mass
• The Lyot Project Direct Imaging Survey of Substellar Companions: Statistical Analysis and Information from Nondetections
• Multiplicity of stars with planets in the solar neighbourhood
• 14 Her: a likely case of planet-planet scattering