Big planets, little stars: Directly imaged companions to young M-stars

<p>Abstract: We present new results from our search for directly imaged planets and brown dwarfs around 200 young (10-150 Myr) M-stars in the L-band (3.8 microns). The new vector vortex coronagraph on Keck/NIRC2 allows us to find companions as close as 80 milliarcsecond, which enables our survey to be sensitive to young planets with masses between 1-10 Jupiter masses and with projected separations between 1-10 au. The initial survey is complete and follow-up observations of 40 candidate companions are planned for 2018. While transit and radial velocity detection techniques have probed giant planet populations at close separations (within a few au), this survey will determine the occurrence rate of giant planets around small stars at larger separations. We will also be sensitive to brown dwarf companions, allowing us to identify new multiple systems of low mass stars. Our results demonstrates the potential to explore the planet occurrence rate and multiplicity of nearby low-mass objects at young ages.