The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems monitored 51 subarcsecond binary systems to evaluate whether tertiary companions as small as Jovian planets orbited either the primary or secondary stars, perturbing their otherwise
smooth Keplerian motions. Six binaries are presented that show evidence of substellar companions orbiting either the primary or secondary star. Of these six systems, the likelihoods of two of the detected perturbations to represent real objects are considered to be high confidence, while the remaining four systems are less certain and will require continued observations for confirmation.
(Abridged) Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) are used to constrain the astrometric orbit of the previously known lesssim 2 day subsystem in the triple system 63 Gem
A and have detected a previously unknown 2 year Keplerian wobble superimposed on the visual orbit of the much longer period (213 years) binary system HR 2896. The very small astrometric perturbation caused by the inner pair in 63 Gem A stretches the limits of current astrometric capabilities, but PHASES observations are able to constrain the orientation of the orbit. The two bright stars comprising the HR 2896 long period (213 year) system have a combined spectral type of K0III and the newly detected objects mass estimate places it in the regime of being a M dwarf. The motion of the stars are slow enough that their spectral features are always blended, preventing Doppler studies. The PHASES measurements and radial velocities (when available) have been combined with lower precision single-aperture measurements covering a much longer timeframe to improve the characterization of the long period orbits in both binaries. The visual orbits of the short and long period systems are presented for both systems, and used to calculate two possible values of the mutual inclinations between inner and outer orbits of 152 pm 12 degrees or a less likely value of 31 pm 11 degrees for 63 Gem A and 10.2 pm 2.4 degrees or 171.2 pm 2.8 degrees for HR 2896. The first is not coplanar, whereas the second is either nearly coplanar or anti-coplanar.
The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) monitored 51 subarcsecond binary systems to evaluate whether tertiary companions as small as Jovian planets orbited either the primary or secondary stars, perturbing their o
therwise smooth Keplerian motions. Twenty-one of those systems were observed 10 or more times and show no evidence of additional companions. A new algorithm is presented for identifying astrometric companions and establishing the (companion mass)-(orbital period) combinations that can be excluded from existence with high confidence based on the PHASES observations, and the regions of mass-period phase space being excluded are presented for 21 PHASES binaries.
Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems have been combined with lower precision single-aperture measurements covering a much longer timespan (from eyepiece measurements, speckle in
terferometry, and adaptive optics) to determine improved visual orbits for 20 binary stars. In some cases, radial velocity observations exist to constrain the full three-dimensional orbit and determine component masses. The visual orbit of one of these binaries---alpha Com (HD 114378)---shows that the system is likely to have eclipses, despite its very long period of 26 years. The next eclipse is predicted to be within a week of 2015 January 24.
The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) monitored 51 sub-arcsecond binary systems to determine precision binary orbits, study the geometries of triple and quadruple star systems, and discover previously unknown fa
int astrometric companions as small as giant planets. PHASES measurements made with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) from 2002 until PTI ceased normal operations in late 2008 are presented. Infrared differential photometry of several PHASES targets were measured with Keck Adaptive Optics and are presented.
The TEDI (TripleSpec - Exoplanet Discovery Instrument) will be the first instrument fielded specifically for finding low-mass stellar companions. The instrument is a near infra-red interferometric spectrometer used as a radial velocimeter. TEDI joins
Externally Dispersed Interferometery (EDI) with an efficient, medium-resolution, near IR (0.9 - 2.4 micron) echelle spectrometer, TripleSpec, at the Palomar 200 telescope. We describe the instrument and its radial velocimetry demonstration program to observe cool stars.
Externally Dispersed Interferometry (EDI) is the series combination of a fixed-delay field-widened Michelson interferometer with a dispersive spectrograph. This combination boosts the spectrograph performance for both Doppler velocimetry and high res
olution spectroscopy. The interferometer creates a periodic spectral comb that multiplies against the input spectrum to create moire fringes, which are recorded in combination with the regular spectrum. The moire pattern shifts in phase in response to a Doppler shift. Moire patterns are broader than the underlying spectral features and more easily survive spectrograph blurring and common distortions. Thus, the EDI technique allows lower resolution spectrographs having relaxed optical tolerances (and therefore higher throughput) to return high precision velocity measurements, which otherwise would be imprecise for the spectrograph alone.
Searches for planets in close binary systems explore the degree to which stellar multiplicity inhibits or promotes planet formation. There is a degeneracy between planet formation models when only systems with single stars are studied--several mechan
isms appear to be able to produce such a final result. This degeneracy is lifted by searching for planets in binary systems; the resulting detections (or evidence of non-existence) of planets in binaries isolates which models may contribute to how planets form in nature. In this chapter, we consider observational efforts to detect planetary companions to binary stars in two types of hierarchical planet-binary configurations: first ``S-type planets which orbit just one of the stars, with the binary period being much longer than the planets; second, ``P-type or circumbinary planets, where the planet simultaneously orbits both stars, and the planetary orbital period is much longer than that of the binary. The S-type planet finding techniques are different for binaries that can or cannot be spatially resolved. For wider systems, techniques reviewed include dualstar interferometric differential astrometry and precision radial velocities. Alternatively, unresolved binaries can be studied using modified dualstar PHASES-style differential astrometry or a modification of the radial velocity technique for composite spectra. Should a fortunately aligned--but still long period--binary be found, eclipse timing can also reveal the presence of S-type planets. Methods for detecting P-type planets include the composite-spectra variant of the radial velocity technique and eclipse timing.
