We analyze observations from Robo-AO's field M dwarf survey taken on the 2.1m Kitt Peak telescope and perform a multiplicity comparison with Gaia DR2. Through its laser-guided, automated system, the Robo-AO instrument has yielded the largest adaptive optics M dwarf multiplicity survey to date. After developing an interface to visually identify and locate stellar companions, we selected eleven lowsignificance Robo-AO detections for follow-up on the Keck II telescope using NIRC2. In the Robo-AO survey we find 553 candidate companions within 4 around 534 stars out of 5566 unique targets, most of which are new discoveries. Using a position cross match with DR2 on all targets, we assess the binary recoverability of Gaia DR2 and compare the properties of multiples resolved by both Robo-AO and Gaia. The catalog of nearby M dwarf systems and their basic properties presented here can assist other surveys which observe these stars, such as the NASA TESS mission.

The Kepler space telescope observed over 15,000 stars for asteroseismic studies. Of these, 75% of dwarfs (and 8% of giants) were found to show anomalous behavior: such as suppressed oscillations (low amplitude) or no oscillations at all. The lack of solar-like oscillations may be a consequence of multiplicity, due to physical interactions with spectroscopic companions or due to the dilution of oscillation amplitudes from "wide" (AO detected; visual) or spectroscopic companions introducing contaminating flux. We present a search for stellar companions to 327 of the Kepler asteroseismic sample, which were expected to display solar-like oscillations. We used direct imaging with Robo-AO, which can resolve secondary sources at ∼0. 15, and followed up detected companions with Keck AO. Directly imaged companion systems with both separations of ≤ 0. 5 and amplitude dilutions >10% all have anomalous primaries, suggesting these oscillation signals are diluted by a sufficient amount of excess flux. We also used the high-resolution spectrometer ESPaDOnS at CFHT to search for spectroscopic binaries. We find tentative evidence for a higher fraction of spectroscopic binaries with high radial velocity scatter in anomalous systems, which would be consistent with previous results suggesting that oscillations are suppressed by tidal interactions in close eclipsing binaries.2 Because the period of oscillation is longer in red giant stars (log(g)<3.5) this allows the use of long cadence observations.

We used the Robo-AO laser adaptive optics (AOs) system to image 99 main sequence and subgiant stars that have Kepler-detected asteroseismic signals. Robo-AO allows us to resolve blended secondary sources at separations as close as ∼0 15 that may contribute to the measured Kepler light curves and affect asteroseismic analysis and interpretation. We report eight new secondary sources within 4 0 of these Kepler asteroseismic stars. We used Subaru and Keck AOs to measure differential infrared photometry for these candidate companion systems. Two of the secondary sources are likely foreground objects, while the remaining six are background sources; however, we cannot exclude the possibility that three of the objects may be physically associated. We measured a range of i′-band amplitude dilutions for the candidate companion systems from 0.43% to 15.4%. We find that the measured amplitude dilutions are insufficient to explain the previously identified excess scatter in the relationship between asteroseismic oscillation amplitude and the frequency of maximum power.

We investigate whether any known candidate habitable-zone exoplanet systems could be imperiled by being sufficiently close to a future supernova. Using existing exoplanet databases, we identify 24 stars possessing at least one planet in the star’s habitable zone. We search the Gaia EDR3 catalog for possible core-collapse supernova progenitors within 150 lt-yr of each of these systems, using Pan-STARRS and Gaia EDR3/DR2 colors to identify neighboring stars that are likely to have masses ≥8M ⊙ (i.e., potential supernova Type II progenitors). Within, our sample, we find one instance of a habitable-zone planetary system within 150 lt-yr of a possible Type II supernova progenitor.