339 research outputs found
A Deep Spitzer Survey of Circumstellar Disks in the Young Double Cluster, h and chi Persei
We analyze very deep IRAC and MIPS photometry of 12,500 members of the
14 Myr old Double Cluster, h and Persei, building upon on our earlier,
shallower Spitzer studies (Currie et al. 2007a, 2008a). Numerous likely members
show infrared (IR) excesses at 8 {\mu}m and 24 m indicative of
circumstellar dust. The frequency of stars with 8 m excess is at least 2%
for our entire sample, slightly lower (higher) for B/A stars (later type,
lower-mass stars). Optical spectroscopy also identifies gas in about 2% of
systems but with no clear trend between the presence of dust and gas. Spectral
energy distribution (SED) modeling of 18 sources with detections at optical
wavelengths through MIPS 24 reveals a diverse set of disk evolutionary
states, including a high fraction of transitional disks, although similar data
for all disk-bearing members would provide better constraints. We combine our
results with those for other young clusters to study the global evolution of
dust/gas disks. For nominal cluster ages, the e-folding times () for
the frequency of warm dust and gas are 2.75 Myr and 1.75 Myr respectively.
Assuming a revised set of ages for some clusters (e.g. Bell et al. 2013), these
timescales increase to 5.75 and 3.75 Myr, respectively, implying a
significantly longer typical protoplanetary disk lifetime. The transitional
disk duration, averaged over multiple evolutionary pathways, is 1 Myr.
Finally, 24 m excess frequencies for 4-6 M stars appear lower
than for 1-2.5 M stars in other 10-30 Myr old clusters.Comment: 35 pages, 6 tables, 21 figures; Accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journa
Search for water in a super-Earth atmosphere: High-resolution optical spectroscopy of 55 Cancri e
We present the analysis of high-resolution optical spectra of four transits
of 55Cnc e, a low-density, super-Earth that orbits a nearby Sun-like star in
under 18 hours. The inferred bulk density of the planet implies a substantial
envelope, which, according to mass-radius relationships, could be either a
low-mass extended or a high-mass compact atmosphere. Our observations
investigate the latter scenario, with water as the dominant species. We take
advantage of the Doppler cross-correlation technique, high-spectral resolution
and the large wavelength coverage of our observations to search for the
signature of thousands of optical water absorption lines. Using our
observations with HDS on the Subaru telescope and ESPaDOnS on the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we are able to place a 3-sigma lower limit of
10 g/mol on the mean-molecular weight of 55Cnc e's water-rich (volume mixing
ratio >10%), optically-thin atmosphere, which corresponds to an atmospheric
scale-height of ~80 km. Our study marks the first high-spectral resolution
search for water in a super-Earth atmosphere and demonstrates that it is
possible to recover known water-vapour absorption signals, in a nearby
super-Earth atmosphere, using high-resolution transit spectroscopy with current
ground-based instruments.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ 12 pages, 9 figures. Email:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]
Discovery of a Visual T-Dwarf Triple System and Binarity at the L/T Transition
We present new high contrast imaging of 8 L/T transition brown dwarfs using
the NIRC2 camera on the Keck II telescope. One of our targets, the T3.5 dwarf
2MASS J08381155 + 1511155, was resolved into a hierarchal triple with projected
separations of 2.5+/-0.5 AU and 27+/-5 AU for the BC and A(BC) components
respectively. Resolved OSIRIS spectroscopy of the A(BC) components confirm that
all system members are T dwarfs. The system therefore constitutes the first
triple T-dwarf system ever reported. Using resolved photometry to model the
integrated-light spectrum, we infer spectral types of T3, T3, and T4.5 for the
A, B, and C components respectively. The uniformly brighter primary has a bluer
J-Ks color than the next faintest component, which may reflect a sensitive
dependence of the L/T transition temperature on gravity, or alternatively
divergent cloud properties amongst components. Relying on empirical trends and
evolutionary models we infer a total system mass of 0.034-0.104 Msun for the BC
components at ages of 0.3-3 Gyr, which would imply a period of 12-21 yr
assuming the system semi-major axis to be similar to its projection. We also
infer differences in effective temperatures and surface gravities between
components of no more than ~150 K and ~0.1 dex. Given the similar physical
properties of the components, the 2M0838+15 system provides a controlled sample
for constraining the relative roles of effective temperature, surface gravity,
and dust clouds in the poorly understood L/T transition regime. Combining our
imaging survey results with previous work we find an observed binary fraction
of 4/18 or 22_{-8}^{+10}% for unresolved spectral types of L9-T4 at separations
>~0.1 arcsec. This translates into a volume-corrected frequency of
13^{-6}_{+7}%, which is similar to values of ~9-12% reported outside the
transition. (ABRIDGED)Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 23 pages, 12
figure
Accretion in Brown Dwarfs: an Infrared View
This paper presents a study of the accretion properties of 19 very low mass
objects (Mstar .01-0.1 Msun) in the regions Chamaeleon I and rho-Oph For 8
objects we obtained high resolution Halpha profiles and determined mass
accretion rate Macc and accretion luminosity Lacc. Pabeta is detected in
emission in 7 of the 10 rho-Oph objects, but only in one in Cha I. Using
objects for which we have both a determination of Lacc from Halpha and a Pabeta
detection, we show that the correlation between the Pabeta luminosity and
luminosity Lacc, found by Muzerolle et al. (1998) for T Tauri stars in Taurus,
extends to objects with mass approx 0.03 Msun; L(Pab) can be used to measure
Lacc also in the substellar regime. The results were less conclusive for
Brgamma, which was detected only in 2 objects, neither of which had an Halpha
estimate of Macc. Using the relation between L(Pab) and Lacc we determined the
accretion rate for all the objects in our sample (including those with no
Halpha spectrum), more than doubling the number of substellar objects with
known Macc. When plotted as a function of the mass of the central object
together with data from the literature, our results confirm the trend of lower
Macc for lower Mstar, although with a large spread. Some of the spread is
probably due to an age effect; our very young objects in rho-Oph have on
average an accretion rate at least one order of magnitude higher than objects
of similar mass in older regions. As a side product, we found that the width of
Halpha measured at 10% peak intensity is not only a qualitative indicator of
accretion, but can be used to obtain a quantitative estimate of Macc over a
large mass range, from T Tauri stars to brown dwarfs. Finally, we found that
some of our objects show evidence of mass-loss.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, A&A in pres
The T Tauri Phase Down to Nearly Planetary Masses: Echelle Spectra of 82 Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs
Using the largest high-resolution spectroscopic sample to date of young, very
low mass stars (VLMS) and brown dwarfs (BDs), we investigate disk accretion in
objects ranging from just above the hydrogen-burning limit all the way to
nearly planetary masses. Our 82 targets span spectral types from M5 to M9.5, or
masses from 0.15 Msun down to ~15 Jupiters. They are confirmed members of the
rho Oph, Taurus, Cha I, IC 348, R CrA, Upper Sco and TW Hydrae regions, with
ages = M6.5). We
find that: (1) classical T Tauri-like disk-accretion persists in the BD domain
down to nearly the deuterium-burning limit; (2) in addition to H-alpha,
permitted emission lines of CaII, OI and HeI are also good accretion
indicators, as in CTTs; (3) the CaII 8662A flux is an excellent quantitative
measure of the accretion rate (Mdot) in VLMS and BDs(as in CTTs); (4) Mdot
diminishes as M^2 -- our measurements support previous findings of this
correlation, and extend it to the entire range of sub-stellar masses; (5) the
accretor fraction among VLMS and BDs decreases substantially with age, as in
higher-mass stars; (6) at any given age, the VLMS and BD accretor fraction is
comparable to that in higher-mass stars; and (7) a number of sources with IR
disk excesses do not evince measurable accretion, with the incidence of such a
mismatch increasing with age: this implies that disks in the low mass regime
can persist beyond the main accretion phase, and parallels the transition from
the classical to post-T Tauri stage in more massive stars. These strong
similarities at young ages, between higher-mass stars and low-mass bodies close
to and below the hydrogen-burning limit, are consistent with a common formation
mechanism in the two mass regimes. (abridged)Comment: 64 pages, 7 figures. ApJ accepte
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