Probing long-period companions to planetary hosts

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 456, Number 3, September IV 2006


Page(s)		1165 - 1172
Section		Planets and planetary systems
DOI		http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20054709

A&A 456, 1165-1172 (2006)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20054709

VLT and CFHT near infrared coronographic imaging surveys

G. Chauvin¹, A.-M. Lagrange², S. Udry³, T. Fusco⁴, F. Galland², D. Naef¹, J.-L. Beuzit² and M. Mayor³

¹ European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
e-mail: gchauvin@eso.org
² Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Grenoble, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
³ Observatoire de Genève, 51 Ch. des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland
⁴ ONERA/Département d'Optique Théorique et Appliquée, BP 72, 92322 Châtillon Cedex, France

(Received 16 December 2005 / Accepted 10 April 2006)

Abstract
Aims.We present the results of a deep imaging survey of stars surrounded by planets detected with the radial velocity technique. The purpose is to search for and to characterize long-period stellar and substellar companions. The sample contains a total of 26 stars, among which 6 exhibit additional radial velocity drifts.
Methods.We used NACO, at the ESO Very Large Telescope, and PUEO-KIR, at the Candian French Hawaiian Telescope, to conduct a near-infrared coronographic survey with adaptive optics of the faint circumstellar environment of the planetary hosts. The domain investigated ranges between 0.1'' to 15'' (i.e. about 3 to 500 AU, according to the mean distance of the sample). The survey is sensitive to companions within the stellar and the substellar domains, depending on the distance to the central stars and on the star properties.
Results.The images of 14 stars do not reveal any companions once the field objects are removed. 8 stars have close potential companions that need to be re-observed within 1-2 years to check for physical companionship. 4 stars are surrounded by faint objects which are confirmed or very probable companions. The companion to HD 13445 (Gl 86) is already known. The HD 196885 star is a new close visual binary system with a high probability of being bound. The 2 newly discovered companions, HD 1237 B and HD 27442 B, share common proper motions with the central stars. Orbital motion is detected for HD 1237 B. HD 1237 B is likely a low-mass M star, located at 70 AU (projected distance) from the primary. HD 27442 B is most probably a white dwarf companion located at about 240 AU (projected distance).

Key words: stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs -- stars: planetary systems -- instrumentation: adaptive optics

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