(Proposal ID) S16A-179

(PI) Currie, Thayne

(Proposal Title)
A Sensitive GPI Search for Super-Jovian Planets Orbiting WISE-Detected Early-
Type Stars

(Abstract)
Using the Subaru/Gemini time exchange, we propose a focused and efficient GPI 
direct-imaging survey of very young (t(avg) ~ 22 Myr) candidate planetary 
systems newly identified from WISE to complement the more volume-limited GPIES 
campaign survey. Our GPI observations coupled with our advanced PSF subtraction
 techniques will enable us to find optimally planets at the same separations 
as most directly-imaged planets (15--150 AU) but with significantly lower 
masses approaching that of Jupiter and resolve debris disks either too faint 
or too close to the star (in projected separation) to be seen with conventional
 AO. Our survey will best constrain the jovian planet distribution around 
early-type stars at moderate to wide separations, a phase space currently 
untouched by transits, RV, or microlensing; provide a key reference point for 
the GPIES survey by investigating whether and quantifying how luminous debris 
disks around young, early-type stars truly are signposts of superjovian 
planets.