We report the detection of a giant planet in a 6.4950 day orbit around the 1.68 M _ { \odot } subgiant HD 102956 .
The planet has a semimajor axis a = 0.081 AU and minimum mass M _ { P } \sin i~ { } = 0.96 M _ { Jup } .
HD 102956 is the most massive star known to harbor a hot Jupiter , and its planet is only the third known to orbit within 0.6 AU of a star more massive than 1.5 M _ { \odot } .
Based on our sample of 137 subgiants with M _ { \star } > 1.45 M _ { \odot } we find that 0.5–2.3 % of A-type stars harbor a close-in planet ( a < 0.1 AU ) with M _ { P } \sin i~ { } > 1 M _ { Jup } , consistent with hot-Jupiter occurrence for Sun-like stars .
Thus , the paucity of planets with 0.1 < a < 1.0 AU around intermediate-mass stars may be an exaggerated version of the “ period valley ” that is characteristic of planets around Sun-like stars .