Transiting planets of intermediate-mass stars

• Applicant: Dr. Eike W. Guenther
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2013 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 247814333

In contrast to planets of solar-like stars, very little is known about planets of intermediate mass (1.3-2.1 Msun) stars. The interesting aspect is that the lifetime of the protoplanetary disks of these stars half as long as that of lower-mass stars.The detection of close-in planets thus sets strong constrains for the time-scale of the formation of planets, and the detection of close-in planets sets constrains on the formation and migration of planets. Thus, if we detect close-in planets of such stars we know the planets must have formed and migrated inwards within a short time. For our survey we selected transiting planet candidates with orbital periods of less than 4 days from the CoRoT-database. Our previous observations with the CAFÉ spectrograph showed that planets with Mplanet > 2 MJup can be detected with this instrument. However, these observations were severely effected by bad weather so that we did not obtain enough data in order to detect the planets. We thus applied again for observing time with the same instrument, and were awarded 4 nights in this semester. Once the survey is completed, we will know what frequency of close-in planets of such stars is, and whether they have on average a higher mass and density than planets of solar-like stars, as predicted by theory.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants