A Survey of Stellar Families: Multiplicity Among Solar-type Stars

Deepak Raghavan

Department of Physics & Astronomy

Georgia State University

Tuesday - Oct. 31, 2006

15:30 am - 16:30 pm

Prospectus Talk

Abstract:

What do the families of Sun-like stars look like? Do they have children (planets) but no (stellar) companions like our Sun? Or do they have companions but no children? Unlike human families, stellar families were expected to have either children or companions, but not both. However, our recent study has shown that, even against selection biases, as many as 23% of the planet-host stars have stellar companions. So, if you lived on any of these planets, you would have at least two suns in your sky! Understanding the environments around Sun-like stars is vital to answering the ultimate question pondered by humans throughout history -- is extra-terrestrial life rare, or is the universe, like our Earth, teeming with life? In pursuing my dissertation research, I hope to contribute a tiny bit to the answer by conducting a comprehensive stellar multiplicity survey. Synthesizing current knowledge built by the myriad research efforts already completed, and augmenting it with targeted new observations, I hope to present statistics on stellar and substellar companionship of Sun-like stars. By understanding the environments inhabited and fostered by these stars, we may perhaps be one small step closer to understanding our place in the Universe. In this talk, I will discuss my sample selection, survey methods, and some preliminary findings.