Investigating giant planet and brown dwarf formation and evolution through the detection and characterisation of these sub-stellar companions

<p>Very little is known about giant planets and brown dwarfs at an orbital separation greater than 5 AU. And yet, both are important puzzle pieces needed for constraining the uncertainties that exist in giant planet formation and evolution models. With over 20 years’ worth of radial velocity data from the CORALIE echelle spectrograph, we are now in a position to use the technique of radial velocity detection and direct imaging to complement one another. Using these techniques helps us understand how these wide-orbit giant companions form and evolve by investigating a mass and separation parameter space that is distinct from the one already occupied with exoplanets discovered through other methods. Here, we will present the detection and characterization of interesting wide-orbit giant planets and brown dwarfs from the CORALIE search for southern extra-solar planets which probes this new orbital parameter space and could signal whether different formation mechanisms are at play, adding to overall picture of planet formation and evolution.