SEARCHING FOR GAS GIANT PLANETS ON SOLAR SYSTEM SCALES: VLT NACO/APP OBSERVATIONS OF THE DEBRIS DISK HOST STARS HD172555 AND HD115892
- Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093 Zurich (Switzerland)
- Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands)
- European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Cassilla 19001, Santiago (Chile)
- European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Strasse, 2, 85748 Garching (Germany)
Using the Apodizing Phase Plate (APP) coronagraph of Very Large Telescope/NACO we searched for planetary mass companions around HD115892 and HD172555 in the thermal infrared at 4 {mu}m. Both objects harbor unusually luminous debris disks for their age and it has been suggested that small dust grains were produced recently in transient events (e.g., a collision) in these systems. Such a collision of planetesimals or protoplanets could have been dynamically triggered by yet unseen companions. We did not detect any companions in our images but derived the following detection limits: for both objects we would have detected companions with apparent magnitudes between {approx}13.2 and 14.1 mag at angular separations between 0.''4 and 1.''0 at the 5{sigma} level. For HD115892 we were sensitive to companions with 12.1 mag even at 0.''3. Using theoretical models these magnitudes are converted into mass limits. For HD115892 we would have detected objects with 10-15 M{sub Jup} at angular separations between 0.''4 and 1.''0 (7-18 AU). At 0.''3 ({approx}5.5 AU) the detection limit was {approx}>25 M{sub Jup}. For HD172555 we reached detection limits between 2 and 3 M{sub Jup} at separations between 0.''5 and 1.''0 (15-29 AU). At 0.''4 ({approx}11 AU) the detection limit was {approx}>4 M{sub Jup}. Despite the non-detections, our data demonstrate the unprecedented contrast performance of NACO/APP in the thermal infrared at very small inner working angles and we show that our observations are mostly background limited at separations {approx}>0.''5.
- OSTI ID:
- 21562514
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 736, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/736/2/L32; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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