Searching for gas giant planets on Solar System scales - A NACO/APP L'-band survey of A- and F-type Main Sequence stars

TL;DR

This study used high-contrast imaging with NACO/APP to search for giant planets around A- and F-type stars at Solar System scales, detecting one new companion and constraining the frequency and distribution of low-mass companions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the capability to detect planetary-mass companions at <30 AU using advanced high-contrast imaging techniques and provides new statistical constraints on their occurrence.

Findings

Detected one new stellar companion around HD 984.

Re-detected known low-mass companions around HD 12894 and HD 20385.

Constrained the truncation radius for planetary mass companions to <135 AU.

Abstract

We report the results of a direct imaging survey of A- and F-type main sequence stars searching for giant planets. A/F stars are often the targets of surveys, as they are thought to have more massive giant planets relative to solar-type stars. However, most imaging is only sensitive to orbital separations $>$30 AU, where it has been demonstrated that giant planets are rare. In this survey, we take advantage of the high-contrast capabilities of the Apodizing Phase Plate coronagraph on NACO at the Very Large Telescope. Combined with optimized principal component analysis post-processing, we are sensitive to planetary-mass companions (2 to 12 $M_{\rm Jup}$) at Solar System scales ($\leq$30 AU). We obtained data on 13 stars in L'-band and detected one new companion as part of this survey: an M$6.0\pm0.5$ dwarf companion around HD 984. We re-detect low-mass companions around HD 12894 and HD 20385, both reported shortly after the completion of this survey. We use Monte Carlo simulations to determine new constraints on the low-mass ($<$80 $M_{\rm Jup}$) companion frequency, as a function of mass and separation. Assuming solar-type planet mass and separation distributions, normalized to the planet frequency appropriate for A-stars, and the observed companion mass-ratio distribution for stellar companions extrapolated to planetary masses, we derive a truncation radius for the planetary mass companion surface density of $<$135 AU at 95% confidence.