2006/06/06 by Michael Endl, William D. Cochran, M. Kürster +5 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Brown dwarf #Context (archaeology) #Exoplanet #Geology #Jovian #Jupiter (rocket family) #Minimum mass #Physics #Planet #Planetary mass #Planetary system #Radial velocity #Saturn #Space exploration #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/506465
published as Astrophys.J.649:436-443,2006 · 20 pages (preprint), 5 figures, accepted in Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2006/06/06 · openalex publication_date 2006/09/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We discuss our high-precision radial velocity results of a sample of 90 M dwarfs observed with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the Harlan J. Smith 2.7 m Telescope at McDonald Observatory, as well as the ESO VLT and the Keck I telescopes, within the context of the overall frequency of Jupiter-mass planetary companions to main-sequence stars. None of the stars in our sample show variability indicative of a giant planet in a short-period orbit, with a ≤ 1 AU. We estimate an upper limit of the frequency f of close-in Jovian planets around M dwarfs as <1.27% (at the 1 σ confidence level). Furthermore, we determine that the efficiency of our survey in noticing planets in circular orbits is 98% for companions with m sin i > 3.8 M J and a ≤ 0.7 AU. For eccentric orbits ( e = 0.6) the survey completeness is 95% for all planets with m sin i > 3.5 M J and a ≤ 0.7 AU. Our results point toward a generally lower frequency of close-in Jovian planets for M dwarfs as compared to FGK-type stars. This is an important piece of information for our understanding of the process of planet formation as a function of stellar mass.