CARMENES: focusing on small planets around nearby M dwarfs

CARMENES is a radial-velocity (RV) survey for exoplanets around nearby M dwarf stars. Using a high-resolution dual-channel spectrograph, it provides M-star RV measurements with a precision down to ~1 m/s. In five years of surveying ~300 nearby M-dwarfs, we have detected ~30 new planets, including habitable-zone Earth-mass planets (Teegarden’s Star b&c) and planets that challenge planet-formation models. Some of the new planets are amenable for characterization by next-decade direct-imaging and astrometric instruments. In addition, CARMENES was used to estimate the masses of ~12 transiting planets around nearby M dwarfs, including AU Mic b&c. CARMENES’ unique design allows addressing additional questions related to M dwarfs and close-in planets, such as the spectroscopic manifestation of photospheric activity and rotation, magnetic field strength of active stars, and the atmospheric composition of hot massive planets. In the talk, I will give a brief overview of the latest results from CARMENES and an outlook to its future.