Two Extraordinary Substellar Binaries at the T/Y Transition and the Y-Band Fluxes of the Coolest Brown Dwarfs

Using Keck laser guide star adaptive optics imaging, we have found that the T9 dwarf WISE J1217+1626 and T8 dwarf WISE J1711+3500 are exceptional binaries, with unusually wide separations (~0.8 arcsec, 8-15 AU), large near-IR flux ratios (~2-3 mags), and small mass ratios (~0.5) compared to previously known field ultracool binaries. Keck/NIRSPEC H-band spectra give a spectral type of Y0 for WISE J1217+1626B, and photometric estimates suggest T9.5 for WISE J1711+3500B. The WISE J1217+1626AB system is very similar to the T9+Y0 binary CFBDSIR J1458+1013AB; these two systems are the coldest known substellar multiples, having secondary components of ~400 K and being planetary-mass binaries if their ages are <~1 Gyr. Both WISE J1217+1626B and CFBDSIR J1458+1013B have strikingly blue Y-J colors compared to previously known T dwarfs, including their T9 primaries. Combining all available data, we find that Y-J color drops precipitously between the very latest T dwarfs and the Y dwarfs. The fact that this is seen in (coeval, mono-metallicity) binaries demonstrates that the color drop arises from a change in temperature, not surface gravity or metallicity variations among the field population. Thus, the T/Y transition established by near-IR spectra coincides with a significant change in the ~1 micron fluxes of ultracool photospheres. One explanation is the depletion of potassium, whose broad absorption wings dominate the far-red optical spectra of T dwarfs. This large color change suggests that far-red data may be valuable for classifying objects of <~500 K.Comment: ApJ, in press (accepted Aug 1, 2012). Small cosmetic changes in version 2 to match final publicatio

A Model-Independent Mass and Moderate Eccentricity for β Pic b

We use a cross-calibration of Hipparcos and Gaia DR2 astrometry for $\beta$ Pic to measure the mass of the giant planet $\beta$ Pic b $(13\pm3$ $M_{\rm Jup})$ in a comprehensive joint orbit analysis that includes published relative astrometry and radial velocities. Our mass uncertainty is somewhat higher than previous work because our astrometry from the Hipparcos-Gaia Catalog of Accelerations accounts for the error inflation and systematic terms that are required to bring the two data sets onto a common astrometric reference frame, and because we fit freely for the host-star mass $(1.84\pm0.05$ $M_{\odot})$. This first model-independent mass for a directly imaged planet is inconsistent with cold-start models given the age of the $\beta$ Pic moving group $(22\pm6$ Myr) but consistent with hot- and warm-start models, concordant with past work. We find a higher eccentricity $(0.24\pm0.06)$ for $\beta$ Pic b compared to previous orbital fits. If confirmed by future observations, this eccentricity may help explain inner edge, scale height, and brightness asymmetry of $\beta$ Pic's disk. It could also potentially signal that $\beta$ Pic b has migrated inward to its current location, acquiring its eccentricity from interaction with the 3:1 outer Lindblad resonance in the disk.Comment: ApJ Letters, accepte

Room temperature low-threshold InAs/InP quantum dot single mode photonic crystal microlasers at 1.5 μm using cavity-confined slow light

We have designed, fabricated, and characterized an InP photonic crystal slab structure that supports a cavity-confined slow-light mode, i.e. a bandgap-confined valence band-edge mode. Three dimensional finite difference in time domain calculations predict that this type of structure can support electromagnetic modes with large quality factors and small mode volumes. Moreover these modes are robust with respect to fabrication imperfections. In this paper, we demonstrate room-temperature laser operation at 1,5 μm of a cavity-confined slow-light mode under pulsed excitation. The gain medium is a single layer of InAs/lnP quantum dots. An effective peak pump power threshold of 80 μW is reported. © 2009 Optical Society of America

Gravity in the Local Universe : density and velocity fields using CosmicFlows-4

This article publicly releases three-dimensional reconstructions of the local Universe gravitational field below z=0.8 that were computed using the CosmicFlows-4 catalog of 56,000 galaxy distances and its sub-sample of 1,008 type Ia supernovae distances. The article also provides measurements of the growth rate of structure using the pairwise correlation of radial peculiar velocities f sigma8 = 0.38(+/-0.04) (ungrouped CF4), f sigma8 = 0.36(+/-0.05) (grouped CF4), f sigma8 = 0.30(+/-0.06) (SNIa) and of the bulk flow in the 3D reconstructed Local Universe of 230 +/- 136 km s-1 at 300 Mpc of distance from the observer. The exploration of 10,000 reconstructions gives that the distances delivered by the Cosmicflows-4 catalog are compatible with a Hubble constant of H0 = 74.5 +/- 0.1 (grouped CF4), H0 = 75.0 +/- 0.35 (ungrouped CF4) and H0 = 75.5 +/- 0.95 (CF4 SNIa subsample).Comment: Submitted A&A Oct 31st, 2022 / (AA/2022/45331) / Accepted January 2023 All Figures and values updated after the december 2022 major correction in CF4 catalo

ADAPTIVE OPTICS IMAGING OF VHS 1256-1257: A LOW MASS COMPANION TO A BROWN DWARF BINARY SYSTEM

Recently, Gauza et al. (2015) reported the discovery of a companion to the late M-dwarf, VHS J125601.92-125723.9 (VHS 1256-1257). The companion's absolute photometry suggests its mass and atmosphere are similar to the HR 8799 planets. However, as a wide companion to a late-type star, it is more accessible to spectroscopic characterization. We discovered that the primary of this system is an equal-magnitude binary. For an age $\sim300$ Myr the A and B components each have a mass of $64.6^{+0.8}_{-2.0}~M_{\mathrm{Jup}}$, and the b component has a mass of $11.2^{+9.7}_{-1.8}$, making VHS 1256-1257 only the third brown dwarf triple system. There exists some tension between the spectrophotometric distance of $17.2\pm2.6$ pc and the parallax distance of $12.7\pm1.0$ pc. At 12.7 pc VHS1256-1257 A and B would be the faintest known M7.5 objects, and are even faint outliers among M8 types. If the larger spectrophotmetric distance is more accurate than the parallax, then the mass of each component increases. In particular, the mass of the b component increases well above the deuterium burning limit to $\sim35~M_{\mathrm{Jup}}$ and the mass of each binary component increases to $73^{+20}_{-17}~M_{\mathrm{Jup}}$. At 17.1 pc, the UVW kinematics of the system are consistent with membership in the AB~Dor moving group. The architecture of the system resembles a hierarchical stellar multiple suggesting it formed via an extension of the star-formation process to low masses. Continued astrometric monitoring will resolve this distance uncertainty and will provide dynamical masses for a new benchmark system.Comment: Accepted to ApJ

Mapping the Shores of the Brown Dwarf Desert III: Young Moving Groups

We present the results of an aperture masking interferometry survey for substellar companions around 67 members of the young (~8-200Myr) nearby (~5-86pc) AB Doradus, Beta Pictoris, Hercules-Lyra, TW Hya, and Tucana-Horologium stellar associations. Observations were made at near infrared wavelengths between 1.2-3.8 microns using the adaptive optics facilities of the Keck II, VLT UT4, and Palomar Hale Telescopes. Typical contrast ratios of ~100-200 were achieved at angular separations between ~40-320mas, with our survey being 100% complete for companions with masses below 0.25\msolar across this range. We report the discovery of a $0.52 \pm 0.09$\msolar companion to HIP14807, as well as the detections and orbits of previously known stellar companions to HD16760, HD113449, and HD160934. We show that the companion to HD16760 is in a face-on orbit, resulting in an upward revision of its mass from $M_2 \sin i \sim 14$\mjupiter to $M_2 = 0.28 \pm 0.04$\msolar. No substellar companions were detected around any of our sample members, despite our ability to detect companions with masses below 80\mjupiter for 50 of our targets: of these, our sensitivity extended down to 40\mjupiter around 30 targets, with a subset of 22 subject to the still more stringent limit of 20\mjupiter. A statistical analysis of our non-detection of substellar companions allows us to place constraints on their frequency around ~0.2-1.5\msolar stars. In particular, considering companion mass distributions that have been proposed in the literature, we obtain an upper limit estimate of ~9-11% for the frequency of 20-80\mjupiter companions between 3-30AU at 95% confidence, assuming that their semimajor axes are distributed according to $d\mathcal{N}/da \propto a^{-1}$ in this range.Comment: Accepted by Ap

Deep search for companions to probable young brown dwarfs

We have obtained high contrast images of four nearby, faint, and very low mass objects 2MASSJ04351455-1414468, SDSSJ044337.61+000205.1, 2MASSJ06085283-2753583 and 2MASSJ06524851-5741376 (here after 2MASS0435-14, SDSS0443+00, 2MASS0608-27 and 2MASS0652-57), identified in the field as probable isolated young brown dwarfs. Our goal was to search for binary companions down to the planetary mass regime. We used the NAOS-CONICA adaptive optics instrument (NACO) and its unique capability to sense the wavefront in the near-infrared to acquire sharp images of the four systems in Ks, with a field of view of 28"*28". Additional J and L' imaging and follow-up observations at a second epoch were obtained for 2MASS0652-57. With a typical contrast DKs= 4.0-7.0 mag, our observations are sensitive down to the planetary mass regime considering a minimum age of 10 to 120 Myr for these systems. No additional point sources are detected in the environment of 2MASS0435-14, SDSS0443+00 and 2MASS0608-27 between 0.1-12" (i.e about 2 to 250 AU at 20 pc). 2MASS0652-57 is resolved as a \sim230 mas binary. Follow-up observations reject a background contaminate, resolve the orbital motion of the pair, and confirm with high confidence that the system is physically bound. The J, Ks and L' photometry suggest a q\sim0.7-0.8 mass ratio binary with a probable semi-major axis of 5-6 AU. Among the four systems, 2MASS0652-57 is probably the less constrained in terms of age determination. Further analysis would be necessary to confirm its youth. It would then be interesting to determine its orbital and physical properties to derive the system's dynamical mass and to test evolutionary model predictions.Comment: Research note, 5 pages, 2 tables and 3 figures, accepted to A&

Human rights and ethical reasoning : capabilities, conventions and spheres of public action

This interdisciplinary article argues that human rights must be understood in terms of opportunities for social participation and that social and economic rights are integral to any discussion of the subject. We offer both a social constructionist and a normative framework for a sociology of human rights which reaches beyond liberal individualism, combining insights from the work of Amartya Sen and from French convention theory. Following Sen, we argue that human rights are founded on the promotion of human capabilities as ethical demands shaped by public reasoning. Using French convention theory, we show how the terms of such deliberation are shaped by different constructions of collectively held values and the compromises reached between them. We conclude by demonstrating how our approach offers a new perspective on spheres of public action and the role these should play in promoting social cohesion, individual capabilities and human rights

Risk-based inspection as a cost-effective strategy to reduce human exposure to cysticerci of Taenia saginata in low-prevalence settings

Taenia saginata cysticercus is the larval stage of the zoonotic parasite Taenia saginata, with a life-cycle involving both cattle and humans. The public health impact is considered low. The current surveillance system, based on post-mortem inspection of carcasses has low sensitivity and leads to considerable economic burden. Therefore, in the interests of public health and food production efficiency, this study aims to explore the potential of risk-based and cost-effective meat inspection activities for the detection and control of T. saginata cysticercus in low prevalence settings