Coronagraphic Observations of Fomalhaut at Solar System Scales

February 2013 • 2013ApJ...764....7K

Authors • Kenworthy, Matthew A. • Meshkat, Tiffany • Quanz, Sascha P. • Girard, Julien H. • Meyer, Michael R. • Kasper, Markus

Abstract • We report on a search for low mass companions within 10 AU of the star Fomalhaut, using narrowband observations at 4.05 μm obtained with the Apodizing Phase Plate coronagraph on the VLT/NaCo. Our observations place a model-dependent upper mass limit of 12-20 M _jup from 4 to 10 AU, covering the semimajor axis search space between interferometric imaging measurements and other direct imaging non-detections. These observations rule out models where the large semimajor axis for the putative candidate companion Fomalhaut b is explained by dynamical scattering from a more massive companion in the inner stellar system, where such giant planets are thought to form.

Links

• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2013ApJ...764....7K
• PDF https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/764/1/7/pdf
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.1459
• DATA http://archive.eso.org/bin/ads2eso?2013ApJ...764....7K
• ELECTR https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/764/1/7
• SPIRES http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+eprint+arXiv:1212.1459