Chemical Signatures Of Planetary Systems In Their Host Stars. Near-infrared Spectroscopy Of Four Planet-hosting Wide Binaries

An important open question in exoplanet studies is whether planets leave detectable chemical fingerprints on their host stars. While several studies have suggested possible planetary chemical signatures in planet-hosting stars, their origin remains debated because of stellar birth conditions and evolutionary effects.

Wide binaries, whose components share a common formation environment, provide an ideal testbed for identifying planetary signatures. Such signatures are often characterized by differential abundance trends with condensation temperature (T_c), which traces the partitioning between gaseous and rocky planetary material.

We investigate whether these trends are associated with planetary architectures in wide binaries. We obtained high-resolution NIR spectra of four planet-hosting wide binaries. We measured abundances for both components and analyzed differential abundances in each system. We also compiled literature measurements for planet-hosting and non-hosting wide binaries and compared their T_c trends. WASP-160 A/B and WASP-127/TYC 4916-897-1 exhibit significant abundance trends with T_c, while HD 20782/HD 20781 shows a weaker correlation and K2-54/K2-54 B is consistent with a flat relation.

The trends are diverse, including both volatile- and refractory-enhanced patterns in planet-hosting stars. Literature comparisons indicate that extreme T_c slopes may occur more frequently among planet-hosting wide binaries, particularly at large separations, although the statistics remain limited by sample size and definition.

Our results indicate that chemical signatures in planet-hosting wide binaries are not universal but vary across systems. While planetary architectures may be associated with some host-star abundance patterns, multiple processes are likely to contribute. Larger samples are essential for disentangling planetary signatures from stellar and binary effects.

Dongwook Lim, Sol Yun, Andreas J. Koch-Hansen, Sang-Hyun Chun, Young Sun Lee, Young-Wook Lee

Comments: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2605.11095 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:2605.11095v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.11095
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Submission history
From: Dongwook Lim
[v1] Mon, 11 May 2026 18:02:43 UTC (508 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11095

Astrobiology