Strength In Numbers: How Do Stellar Companions Affect Giant Planet Formation?

While numerous exoplanets have now been uncovered in stellar binaries, the impact of companion stars on planet formation and evolution is still not understood. In this talk, I will present results of population trends seen among the known sample of planets in multiple star systems, which allows us to investigate the effects of stellar binarity on the resulting planetary architectures. In particular, observations of stars hosting high-mass close-in giant planets and brown dwarfs find an excess of binary companions on few hundred AU separations, and different planet demographics for these systems, suggesting that such binaries may provide favourable conditions for the formation of the observed inner companions. I will show results from simulations of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks adapted to binary-star environments, which show that certain binary configurations may trigger gravitational fragmentation and lead to the formation of giant planets in otherwise-stable disks.