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Project Progress

Gonzalez and Laws obtained optical spectra of planet-hosting candidate stars at the 2.7-meter telescope at McDonald Observatory in Dec. 2001, March 2002, and April 2002. We have reduced most of the spectra and are in the process of analysis.

At the same time we are nearly ready to submit our next paper on the metallicities of stars with planets, which is based on spectra obtained in Dec. 2000.

We completed a project to search for lithium-6 in the atmospheres of the hotter stars with planets. Making use of very high-resolution spectra of 8 stars with planets obtained by our colleagues in Texas, we set upper limits on the Lithium-6/7 isotope ratios. We found no evidence for Lithium-6 in any of the stars. In particular, we do not confirm the reported (in Nature, 2001) detection of Lithium-6 in the atmosphere of HD 82943.