| This thesis presents the results of a deep (14.5 ≲ r ≲ 23), 20 night survey for transiting planets in the intermediate age open cluster M37 (NGC 2099) using the 6.5m MMT. We combine spectroscopic and photometric observations of the cluster to refine estimates of the cluster fundamental parameters, identify variable stars, study stellar rotation, and place limits on the fraction of stars with planets as small as Neptune. We determine new estimates of the fundamental cluster parameters: t = 550 +/- 30 Myr, E(B -- V) = 0.227 +/- 0.038, (m -- M)v = 11.57 +/- 0.13 and [M/H] = +0.045 +/- 0.044. We obtain light curves for ∼ 23,000 stars and identify 1445 variable stars, 99% of which are new discoveries. These variables include 575 rotational variables that are potential cluster members. Using this rich sample we investigate a number of relations between rotation period, color and the amplitude of photometric variability, and we combine these results with published observations of other open clusters to test the standard theory of lower-main sequence stellar angular momentum evolution. Notably we find that the period of the Sun and the periods of solar mass stars in M37, and the Hyades do not follow the "Skumanich law", i.e. they cannot be related by a simple model invoking solid-body rotation with a standard wind angular momentum-loss law. Finally, we do not detect any transiting planets among the ∼ 1450 observed cluster members. We do, however, identify a ∼ 1RJ candidate planet transiting a Galactic field star. We use this null result to place 95% confidence upper limits on the fraction of cluster members and field stars with planets as a function of planetary radius and orbital period. We find that < 25% of cluster members have 0.35RJ planets with periods shorter than 1 day, and < 16% of field stars have 0.3RJ planets with periods shorter than 1 day. This is the first transit survey to place limits on the fraction of stars with planets as small as Neptune. |
