Protostars and Planets VI, Heidelberg, July 15-20, 2013
Poster 2G005
TWO SUNS IN THE SKY: STELLAR MULTIPLICITY INFLUENCE ON PLANET FORMATION
Ji, Wang (Yale University)
Debra, Fischer (Yale University)
Jiwei, Xie (University of Toronto)
Tom, Barclay (NASA Ames Research Center)
Abstract:
The frequency of planet around multiple stellar systems is important in two aspects. First, it is a major constituent of global planet frequency because almost half of stellar systems in the solar neighborhood are multiple systems. Second, the comparison of the planet frequency of multiple stellar systems to that of single stars shed light on the influence of stellar multiplicity on planet formation and evolution. From a sample of 113 bright (Kp<13.5) Kepler multi-planet candidates systems, we calculate the planet frequency for both single and multiple stars based on radial velocity measurements and co-planarity constraint from dynamical stability analysis. We find that Planet formation is negatively affected by the presence of a close-in companion star (a<10 AU). The effect of stellar multiplicity on planet frequency at longer companion star separations remains to be determined by future investigation of stellar multiplicity by the adaptive optics imaging. We develop an iterative algorithm to obtain self-consistent stellar and orbital solutions. This bright sample of Kepler multi-planet candidates systems with refined stellar and orbital parameters, planet confidence estimation, and nearby stellar companion identification offers a well-characterized sample for future theoretical and observational study.
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