| Abstract
| - Context. Little is known about the planetary systems around single white dwarfs, although there is strong evidence that they do exist. Aims. We performed a pilot study with the extreme-AO system on the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) on the Very Large Telescopes (VLT) to look for giant planets around a young white dwarf, GD 50. Methods. We were awarded science verification time on the new ESO instrument SPHERE. Observations were made with the InfraRed Dual-band Imager and Spectrograph in classical imaging mode in H band. Results. Despite the faintness of the target (14.2 mag in R band), the AO loop was closed and a strehl of 37% was reached in H band. No objects were detected around GD 50. We achieved a 5-sigma contrast of 6.2, 8.0, and 8.25 mag at 0.̋2, 0.̋4, and 0.̋6 and beyond, respectively. We exclude any substellar objects more massive than 4.0 MJ at 6.2 au, 2.9 MJ at 12.4 au, and 2.8 MJ at 18.6 au and beyond. This rivals the previous upper limit set by Spitzer. We further show that SPHERE is the most promising instrument available to search for close-in substellar objects around nearby white dwarfs.
|
