On the Feasibility of Using Eclipsing Binary Timings as Probes for Extrasolar Planets

Volume 35 number 1 (2007)

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R. D., Jr. Benge

Abstract

By observing eclipsing binaries for a large number of cycles, extremely precise values of epoch and period may be determined. It is suggested that this precision may be used as a probe for the detection of light-time effects due to extrasolar planets around these stars. This work shows that while this technique may be theoretically possible, noise in the data for timings would normally be larger than the effect being sought. More accurate measurements of the times of minima would be needed for this technique to be feasible in detecting extrasolar planets.