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D. E. Trilling, D. W. Koerner (Penn.), C. Ftaclas (Mich. Tech. U.), R. H. Brown (LPL/Arizona), J. Donovan (Franklin and Marshall)
We report the results of our coronagraphic survey of more than 40 stars with known extrasolar giant planets. The majority of these stars show no evidence of circumstellar emission or of additional point sources in the system. However, some stars do show evidence of non-stellar, extended emission, suggestive of circumstellar remnant dust disks. These disks resemble our Solar System's Kuiper Belt in location, extent, and geometry, and imply a population of small bodies in these other planetary systems. Our non-detections could indicate either no disks present in those systems, or disks too faint to be detected with our present instrumental setup. We present disk models which incorporate near infrared images, mid-infrared photometry, and IRAS measurements in an effort to constrain dust disk masses. We have also found several previously unknown point sources near the stars with known planets. While most, if not all, of these point sources are probably background objects, we have obtained JHK colors and common motion measurements for these sources and will continue to make follow-up observations until their natures are clear.
We acknowledge funding for this project from NASA and NSF.