Carbon and Oxygen Abundances in the Hot Jupiter Exoplanet Host Star XO-2N and its Binary Companion

TL;DR

This study compares the carbon, oxygen, iron, and nickel abundances in the binary star system XO-2N and XO-2S, with one star hosting a transiting hot Jupiter, to explore how planet formation influences stellar composition.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed elemental abundance comparison between a star with a hot Jupiter and its binary companion, highlighting potential effects of planet formation on stellar chemistry.

Findings

XO-2N may be slightly more C-rich and O-rich than XO-2S.

Both stars have C/O ratios around 0.60, higher than solar.

The system offers a unique environment to study star-planet compositional relationships.

Abstract

With the aim of connecting the compositions of stars and planets, we present the abundances of carbon and oxygen, as well as iron and nickel, for the transiting exoplanet host star XO-2N and its wide-separation binary companion XO-2S. Stellar parameters are derived from high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise spectra, and the two stars are found to be similar in their Teff, log g, iron ([Fe/H]), nickel ([Ni/H]) abundances. Their carbon ([C/H]) and oxygen ([O/H]) abundances also overlap within errors, although XO-2N may be slightly more C-rich and O-rich than XO-2S. The C/O ratios of both stars (~0.60+/-0.20) may also be somewhat larger than solar (C/O~0.50). The XO-2 system has a transiting hot Jupiter orbiting one binary component but not the other, allowing us to probe the potential effects planet formation might have on the host star composition. Additionally, with multiple observations of its atmosphere the transiting exoplanet XO-2b lends itself to compositional analysis, which can be compared to the natal chemical environment established by our binary star elemental abundances. This work sets the stage for determining how similar/different exoplanet and host star compositions are, and the implications for planet formation, by discussing the C/O ratio measurements in the unique environment of a visual binary system with one star hosting a transiting hot Jupiter.