Spitzer White Dwarf Planet Limits

Abstract

We present preliminary limits on the presence of planets around white dwarf stars using the IRAC photometer on the Spitzer space telescope. Planets emit strongly in the mid-infrared which allows their presence to be detected as an excess at these wavelengths. We place limits of $5 M_J$ for 8 stars assuming ages of $1 Gyr$, and $10 M_J$ for 23 stars.We describe our survey, present our results and comment on approaches to improve our methodology.

4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Proceedings of 15th European White Dwarf Workshop