Pan-Pacific Planet Search for planets orbiting evolved massive stars

The Pan-Pacific Planet Search: A southern hemisphere search for planets orbiting evolved massive stars
http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.4052

Quote :

The vast majority of known extrasolar planets orbit stars with a narrow range of masses (0.7-1.3 M_sun). Recent years have seen rapid growth in our knowledge about the properties of planetary systems with host stars significantly more massive than the Sun. Planet formation models predict that giant planets are more common around higher-mass stars (M>1.5M_sun). However, these types of stars pose severe observational challenges while on the main sequence, resulting in a strong bias against them in current planet searches. Fortunately, it is possible to obtain high-precision Doppler velocities for these massive stars as they evolve off the main sequence and cool as subgiants. We describe the Pan-Pacific Planet Search, a survey of 170 subgiant stars using the 3.9m Australian Astronomical Telescope. In collaboration with J. Johnson's Keck survey of Northern retired A stars, we are monitoring nearly every subgiant brighter than V=8. This survey will provide critical statistics on the frequency and characteristics of planetary systems formed around higher-mass stars.

A specific search targetted at southern subgiants? Wonder if Beta Hydri and Delta Pavonis are in there.

The search for planets around subgiants is the most productive search for extrasolar planets. Only short-periodic gas giants are found around 30% of the stars (from giant stars accuracy radial velocity is much lower - around 10 meters per second).