| Name: Akanksha Khandelwal |
| Affiliation: Instituto de Astronomía UNAM, México |
| Conference ID: ASI2026_681 |
| Title: Searching for Small Planets Around Brown Dwarfs: Initial Results from the SAINT-EX Transit Survey |
| Abstract Type: Poster |
| Abstract Category: Sun, Solar System, Exoplanets, and Astrobiology |
| Author(s) and Co-Author(s) with Affiliation: Akanksha Khandelwal(Instituto de Astronomía UNAM, Mexico City-04510, Mexico), Y. Gomez Maqueo Chew(Instituto de Astronomía UNAM, Mexico City-04510, Mexico), F. Zong Lang(Center for Space and Habitability-University of Bern, Bern-3012, Switzerland), B. O. Demory(Center for Space and Habitability-University of Bern, Bern-3012, Switzerland), M. P. Marcano(Instituto de Astronomía UNAM, Mexico City-04510, Mexico), U. Schroffenegger(Center for Space and Habitability-University of Bern, Bern-3012, Switzerland), I. Plauchu Frayn(Instituto de Astronomía UNAM, Mexico City-04510, Mexico), SAINTEX Collaboration(Center for Space and Habitability-University of Bern, Bern-3012, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: Brown dwarfs are substellar objects with masses between those of planets and stars, insufficient to sustain stable hydrogen fusion. Understanding whether such objects can host small planets remains an open and intriguing question in exoplanet science. Observational results from Kepler and other surveys indicate a strong anticorrelation between stellar mass and the occurrence rate of short-period, super-Earth-sized planets (1–4R⊕), implying that lower-mass stars host approximate three times as many small planets. If this trend extends into the substellar regime, it could suggest a significant population of small planets orbiting brown dwarfs. However, theoretical models and disk observations indicate that most brown dwarfs possess low-mass protoplanetary disks, often below a Jupiter mass, which may limit the formation of Earth-sized planets.
To explore these possibilities and address these contrasting predictions, we have initiated a dedicated transit survey of brown dwarfs using the SAINT-EX telescope. Our program monitors a carefully selected sample of nearby brown dwarfs to search for small transiting planets. In this conference, I will present the survey objectives, target selection, and some of our initial findings from this ongoing effort. |
