Kelu-1 is a Binary L Dwarf: First Brown Dwarf Science from Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics

(Abridged) We present near-IR imaging of the nearby L dwarf Kelu-1 obtained with the Keck sodium laser guide star adaptive optics (LGS AO) system as part of a high angular resolution survey for substellar binaries. Kelu-1 was one of the first free-floating L dwarfs identified, and the origin of its overluminosity compared to other similar objects has been a long-standing question. Our images clearly resolve Kelu-1 into a 0.29'' (5.4 AU) binary, and a previous non-detection by HST demonstrates that the system is a true physical pair. Binarity explains the properties of Kelu-1 that were previously noted to be anomalous compared to other early-L dwarfs. We estimate spectral types of L1.5-L3 and L3-L4.5 for the two components, giving model-derived masses of 0.05-0.07 Msun and 0.045-0.065 Msun for an estimated age of 0.3-0.8 Gyr. More distant companions are not detected to a limit of 5-9 Mjup. The presence of lithium absorption indicates that both components are substellar, but the weakness of this feature relative to other L dwarfs can be explained if only Kelu-1B is Li-bearing. Determining whether both or only one of the components possesses lithium could constrain the age of Kelu-1 (and other Li-bearing L binaries) with higher precision than is possible for most ultracool field objects. These results are the first LGS AO observations of brown dwarfs and demonstrate the potential of this new instrumental capability for substellar astronomy.Comment: 24 pages, Astrophysical Journal, in press (Nov 20, 2005 issue). Note that Figure 1 of the PDF version is degraded by arxiv.org, but the Postscript version is fine. Version 2 includes very minor changes to match the published versio

BEC-BCS Crossover with Feshbach Resonance for a Three-Hyperfine-Species Model

We consider the behavior of an ultracold Fermi gas across a narrow Feshbach resonance, where the occupation of the closed channel may not be negligible. While the corrections to the single-channel formulae associated with the nonzero chemical potential and with particle conservation have been considered in the existing literature, there is a further effect, namely the "inter-channel Pauli exclusion principle" associated with the fact that a single hyperfine species may be common to the two channels. We focus on this effect and show that, as intuitively expected, the resulting corrections are of order $E_F/\eta$, where $E_F$ is the Fermi energy of the gas in the absence of interactions and $\eta$ is the Zeeman energy difference between the two channels. We also consider the related corrections to the fermionic excitation spectrum, and briefly discuss the collective modes of the system

Tuning Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings: Effects on singlet and triplet condensation with Fermi atoms

We investigate the pair condensation of a two-spin-component Fermi gas in the presence of both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. We calculate the condensate fraction in the BCS-BEC crossover both in two and in three dimensions by taking into account singlet and triplet pairings. These quantities are studied by varying the spin-orbit interaction from the case with the only Rashba to the equal-Rashba-Dresselhaus one. We find that, by mixing the two couplings, the singlet pairing decreases while the triplet pairing is suppressed in the BCS regime and increased in the BEC regime, both in two and three dimensions. At fixed spin-orbital strength, the greatest total condensate fraction is obtained when only one coupling (only Rashba or only Dresselhaus) is present.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, final versio

Discovery of a Highly Unequal-Mass Binary T Dwarf with Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics: A Coevality Test of Substellar Theoretical Models and Effective Temperatures

(Abridged) Highly unequal-mass ratio binaries are rare among field brown dwarfs, with the known census described by q^(4.9+/-0.7). However, such systems can test the joint accuracy of evolutionary and atmospheric models, under the constraint of coevality (the "isochrone test''). We carry out this test using two of the most extreme field substellar binaries currently known, the T1+T6 \eps Ind Bab binary and a newly discovered 0.14" T2.0+T7.5 binary, 2MASS 1209-10AB. Based on the locations of the components on the H-R diagram, models successfully indicate that the systems are coeval, with internal age differences of log(age) = 0.5{+0.4}{-0.3} and -0.8+/-1.3 dex, respectively. However, the total mass of \eps Ind Bab derived from the H-R diagram (~80 Mjup) is discrepant with the reported dynamical mass. This problem, which is independent of the assumed age of the system, can be explained by a ~50-100 K systematic error in the model atmosphere fitting; bringing the two mass determinations into consistency leads to an inferred age of ~6 Gyr for the \eps Ind system, older than previously assumed. Overall, the two T dwarf binaries studied here, along with recent results from T dwarfs in age and mass benchmark systems, yield evidence for small (~100 K) errors in the evolutionary models and/or model atmospheres, but not significantly larger. Finally, the binary nature of 2MASS 1209-10AB reduces its utility as the primary T3 near-IR spectral typing standard; we suggest SDSS 1206+28 as a replacement.Comment: ApJ, in press. Version 2 has tiny changes to match the published versio

Analysis of a Very Massive DA White Dwarf via the Trigonometric Parallax and Spectroscopic Methods

By two different methods, we show that LHS 4033 is an extremely massive white dwarf near its likely upper mass limit for destruction by unstable electron captures. From the accurate trigonometric parallax reported herein, the effective temperature (T=10,900 K) and the stellar radius (R=0.00368 R_sun) are directly determined from the broad-band spectral energy distribution -- the parallax method. The effective temperature and surface gravity are also estimated independently from the simultaneous fitting of the observed Balmer line profiles with those predicted from pure-hydrogen model atmospheres -- the spectroscopic method (T=10,760 K, log g=9.46). The mass of LHS 4033 is then inferred from theoretical mass-radius relations appropriate for white dwarfs. The parallax method yields a mass estimate of 1.310--1.330 M_sun, for interior compositions ranging from pure magnesium to pure carbon, respectively, while the spectroscopic method yields an estimate of 1.318--1.335 M_sun for the same core compositions. This star is the most massive white dwarf for which a robust comparison of the two techniques has been made.Comment: 17 pages, including 4 figures, Accepted for Ap.

Collective modes of trapped gases at the BEC-BCS crossover

The collective mode frequencies in isotropic and deformed traps are calculated for general polytropic equation of states, $P\propto n^{\gamma+1}$, and expressed in terms of $\gamma$ and the trap geometry. For molecular and standard Bose-Einstein condensates and Fermi gases near Feshbach resonances, the effective power $\gamma\simeq0.5-1.3$ is calculated from Jastrow type wave-function ans\"atze, and from the crossover model of Leggett. The resulting mode frequencies are calculated for these phases around the BCS-BEC crossover.Comment: Revised version to be published in PR

Universal Sound Absorption in Amorphous Solids: A Theory of Elastically Coupled Generic Blocks

Glasses are known to exhibit quantitative universalities at low temperatures, the most striking of which is the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient 1/Q. In this work we develop a theory of coupled generic blocks with a certain randomness property to show that universality emerges essentially due to the interactions between elastic blocks, regardless of their microscopic nature.Comment: (Revised) 16 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Journal of Non-Crystalline Solid

Two-band superfluidity from the BCS to the BEC limit

We analyze the evolution of two-band superfluidity from the weak coupling Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to the strong coupling Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) limit. When the interband interaction is tuned from negative to positive values, a quantum phase transition occurs from a 0-phase to a $\pi$-phase state, depending on the relative phase of two order parameters. Furthermore, population imbalances between the two bands can be created by tuning the intraband or interband interactions. We also find two undamped low energy collective excitations corresponding to in-phase and out-of-phase modes. Lastly, we derive the coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations, and show that they reduce to coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations for two types of bosons in the BEC limit.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figure

BCS-BEC Crossover in Atomic Fermi Gases with a Narrow Resonance

We determine the effects on the BCS-BEC crossover of the energy dependence of the effective two-body interaction, which at low energies is determined by the effective range. To describe interactions with an effective range of either sign, we consider a single-channel model with a two-body interaction having an attractive square well and a repulsive square barrier. We investigate the two-body scattering properties of the model, and then solve the Eagles-Leggett equations for the zero temperature crossover, determining the momentum dependent gap and the chemical potential self-consistently. From this we investigate the dependence of the crossover on the effective range of the interaction.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure

SDSS J141624.08+134826.7: Blue L Dwarfs and Non-Equilibrium Chemistry

We present an analysis of the recently discovered blue L dwarf SDSS J141624.08+134826.7. We extend the spectral coverage of its published spectrum to ~4 microns by obtaining a low-resolution L band spectrum with SpeX on the NASA IRTF. The spectrum exhibits a tentative weak CH4 absorption feature at 3.3 microns but is otherwise featureless. We derive the atmospheric parameters of SDSS J141624.08+134826.7 by comparing its 0.7-4.0 micron spectrum to the atmospheric models of Marley and Saumon which include the effects of both condensate cloud formation and non-equilibrium chemistry due to vertical mixing and find the best fitting model has Teff=1700 K, log g=5.5 [cm s-2], fsed=4, and Kzz=10^4 cm2 s-1. The derived effective temperature is significantly cooler than previously estimated but we confirm the suggestion by Bowler et al. that the peculiar spectrum of SDSS J141624.08+134826.7 is primarily a result of thin condensate clouds. In addition, we find strong evidence of vertical mixing in the atmosphere of SDSS J141624.08+134826.7 based on the absence of the deep 3.3 micron CH4 absorption band predicted by models computed in chemical equilibrium. This result suggests that observations of blue L dwarfs are an appealing way to quantitatively estimate the vigor of mixing in the atmospheres of L dwarfs because of the dramatic impact such mixing has on the strength of the 3.3 micron CH4 band in the emergent spectra of L dwarfs with thin condensate clouds.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa