Influence of Stellar Multiplicity On Planet Formation. I. Evidence of Suppressed Planet Formation Due to Stellar Companions Within 20 AU and Validation of Four Planets From the Kepler Multiple Planet Candidates

The planet occurrence rate for multiple stars is important in two aspects. First, almost half of stellar systems in the solar neighborhood are multiple systems. Second, the comparison of the planet occurrence rate for multiple stars to that for single stars sheds light on the influence of stellar multiplicity on planet formation and evolution. We developed a method of distinguishing planet occurrence rates for single and multiple stars. From a sample of 138 bright (KP <13.5) Kepler multi-planet candidate systems, we compared the stellar multiplicity rate of these planet host stars to that of field stars. Using dynamical stability analyses and archival Doppler measurements, we find that the stellar multiplicity rate of planet host stars is significantly lower than field stars for semi-major axes less than 20 AU, suggesting that planet formation and evolution are suppressed by the presence of a close-in companion star at these separations. The influence of stellar multiplicity at larger separations is uncertain because of search in- completeness due to a limited Doppler observation time baseline and a lack of high resolution imaging observation. We calculated the planet confidence for the sample of mutlti-planet candidates, and find that the planet confidences for KOI 82.01, KOI 115.01, KOI 282.01 and KOI 1781.02 are higher than 99.7% and thus validate the planetary nature of these four planet candidates. This sample of bright Kepler multi-planet candidates with refined stellar and orbital parameters, planet confidence estimation, and nearby stellar companion identification offers a well-characterized sample for future theoretical and observational study.