LANL Abstract: On the Nature of Stars with Planets

From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Sat Dec 29 2001 - 08:17:06 MST


http://xxx.uni-augsburg.de/abs/astro-ph/0112402

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0112402

From: Iain Neill Reid <inr@hep.upenn.edu>
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 18:28:09 GMT (215kb)

On the Nature of Stars with Planets

Authors: I. Neill Reid
Comments: 46 pages, 13 figures; accepted for PASP

     We consider the metallicities and kinematics of nearby stars known
     to have planetary-mass companions in the general context of the
     overall properties of the local Galactic Disk. We have used
     Stromgren photometry to determine abundances for both the
     extrasolar-planet host stars and for a volume-limited sample of
     486 F, G and K stars selected from the Hipparcos catalogue. The
     latter data show that the Sun lies near the modal abundance of the
     disk, with over 45% of local stars having super-solar
     metallicities. Twenty of the latter stars (4.1%) are known to have
     planetary-mass companions. Using that ratio to scale data for the
     complete sample of planetary host stars, we find that the fraction
     of stars with extrasolar planets rises sharply with increasing
     abundance, confirming previous results. However, the frequency
     remains at the 3-4% level for stars within 0.15 dex of solar
     abundance, and falls to ~1% only for stars with abundances less
     than half solar. Given the present observational constraints, both
     in velocity precision and in the available time baseline, these
     numbers represent a lower limit to the frequency of extrasolar
     planetary systems. A comparison between the kinematics of the
     planetary host stars and a representative sample of disk stars
     suggests that the former have an average age which is ~60% of the
     latter.

Paper: Source (215kb), PostScript, or Other formats

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Amara Graps, PhD | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Heidelberg Cosmic Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps
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"We came whirling out of Nothingness scattering stars like dust." --Rumi



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