RefPlanets: Search for reflected light from extra-solar planets with SPHERE/ZIMPOL
S. Hunziker, H. M. Schmid, D. Mouillet, J. Milli, A. Zurlo, P., Delorme, L. Abe, H. Avenhaus, A. Baruffolo, A. Bazzon, A. Boccaletti, P., Baudoz, J. L. Beuzit, M. Carbillet, G. Chauvin, R. Claudi, A. Costille, J. B., Daban, S. Desidera, K. Dohlen, C. Dominik, M. Downing

TL;DR
RefPlanets utilizes the ZIMPOL instrument on VLT to conduct a blind search for exoplanets via polarized reflected light, achieving unprecedented contrast limits and demonstrating the instrument's high polarimetric capabilities for bright nearby stars.
Contribution
This study demonstrates the high polarimetric contrast capabilities of ZIMPOL for bright stars and introduces combined PDI and ADI techniques to enhance exoplanet detection sensitivity.
Findings
Achieved contrast limits of 15.0-16.3 mag at 0.13"
No additional companions detected in the observed targets
Demonstrated the effectiveness of combining PDI with ADI for improved contrast
Abstract
RefPlanets is a guaranteed time observation (GTO) programme that uses the Zurich IMaging POLarimeter (ZIMPOL) of SPHERE/VLT for a blind search for exoplanets in wavelengths from 600-900 nm. The goals of this study are the characterization of the unprecedented high polarimetic contrast and polarimetric precision capabilities of ZIMPOL for bright targets, the search for polarized reflected light around some of the closest bright stars to the Sun and potentially the direct detection of an evolved cold exoplanet for the first time. For our observations of Alpha Cen A and B, Sirius A, Altair, Eps Eri and Tau Ceti we used the polarimetric differential imaging (PDI) mode of ZIMPOL which removes the speckle noise down to the photon noise limit for angular separations >0.6". We describe some of the instrumental effects that dominate the noise for smaller separations and explain how to remove…
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