136 research outputs found
Quiescent X-ray emission from an evolved brown dwarf ?
I report on the X-ray detection of Gl569Bab. During a 25ksec Chandra
observation the binary brown dwarf is for the first time spatially separated in
X-rays from the flare star primary Gl569A. Companionship to Gl569A constrains
the age of the brown dwarf pair to ~300-800 Myr. The observation presented here
is only the second X-ray detection of an evolved brown dwarf. About half of the
observing time is dominated by a large flare on Gl569Bab, the remainder is
characterized by weak and non-variable emission just above the detection limit.
This emission -- if not related to the afterglow of the flare -- represents the
first detection of a quiescent corona on a brown dwarf, representing an
important piece in the puzzle of dynamos in the sub-stellar regime.Comment: to appear in ApJ
First scattered light images of debris disks around HD 53143 and HD 139664
We present the first scattered light images of debris disks around a K star
(HD 53143) and an F star (HD 139664) using the coronagraphic mode of the
Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). With
ages 0.3 - 1 Gyr, these are among the oldest optically detected debris disks.
HD 53143, viewed ~45 degrees from edge-on, does not show radial variation in
disk structure and has width >55 AU. HD 139664 is seen close to edge-on and has
belt-like morphology with a dust peak 83 AU from the star and a distinct outer
boundary at 109 AU. We discuss evidence for significant diversity in the radial
architecture of debris disks that appears unconnected to stellar spectral type
or age. HD 139664 and possibly the solar system belong in a category of narrow
belts 20-30 AU wide. HD 53143 represents a class of wide disk architecture with
characteristic width >50 AU.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
The vertical structure of T Tauri accretion discs IV. Self-irradiation of the disc in the FU Orionis outburst phase
I investigate the self-irradiation of intensively accreting circumstellar
discs (backwarmed discs). It is modelled using the two-layer disc approach by
Lachaume et al. (2003) that includes heating by viscous dissipation and by an
external source of radiation. The disc is made of a surface layer directly
heated by the viscous luminosity of the central parts of the disc, and of an
interior heated by viscosity as well as by reprocessed radiation from the
surface. This model convincingly accounts for the infrared excess of some FU
Orionis objects in the range 1-200 microns and supports the backwarmed disc
hypothesis sometimes invoked to explain the mid- and far-infrared excesses
whose origins are still under debate. Detailed simulation of the vertical
radiative transfert in the presence of backwarming is still needed to
corroborate these results and spectroscopically constrain the properties of
intensively accreting discs.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic
A Possible Massive Asteroid Belt Around zeta Lep
We have used the Keck I telescope to image at 11.7 microns and 17.9 microns
the dust emission around zeta Lep, a main sequence A-type star at 21.5 pc from
the Sun with an infrared excess. The excess is at most marginally resolved at
17.9 microns. The dust distance from the star is probably less than or equal to
6 AU, although some dust may extend to 9 AU. The mass of observed dust is
\~10^22 g. Since the lifetime of dust particles is about 10,000 years because
of the Poytning-Robertson effect, we robustly estimate at least 4 10^26 g must
reside in parent bodies which may be asteroids if the system is in a steady
state and has an age of ~300 Myr. This mass is approximately 200 times that
contained within the main asteroid belt in our solar system.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, ApJL in pres
High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of the Brown Dwarf Epsilon Indi Ba
We report on the analysis of high-resolution infrared spectra of the newly
discovered brown dwarf Epsilon Indi Ba. This is the closest known brown dwarf
to the solar system, with a distance of 3.626 pc. Spectra covering the ranges
of 2.308-2.317 microns and 1.553-1.559 microns were observed at a spectral
resolution of R=50,000 with the Phoenix spectrometer on the Gemini South
telescope. The physical paramters of effective temperature and surface gravity
are derived by comparison to model spectra calculated from atmospheres computed
using unified cloudy models. An accurate projected rotational velocity is also
derived.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres
Crossing the Brown Dwarf Desert Using Adaptive Optics: A Very Close L-Dwarf Companion to the Nearby Solar Analog HR 7672
We have found a very faint companion to the active solar analog HR 7672 (HD
190406; GJ 779; 15 Sge). Three epochs of high resolution imaging using adaptive
optics (AO) at the Gemini-North and Keck II Telescopes demonstrate that HR
7672B is a common proper motion companion, with a separation of 0.79" (14 AU)
and a 2.16 um flux ratio of 8.6 mags. Using follow-up K-band spectroscopy from
Keck AO+NIRSPEC, we measure a spectral type of L4.5+/-1.5. This is the closest
ultracool companion around a main sequence star found to date by direct
imaging. We estimate the primary has an age of 1-3 Gyr. Assuming coevality, the
companion is most likely substellar, with a mass of 55-78 Mjup based on
theoretical models. The primary star shows a long-term radial velocity trend,
and we combine the radial velocity data and AO imaging to set a firm
(model-independent) lower limit of 48 Mjup. In contrast to the paucity of brown
dwarf companions at <~4 AU around FGK dwarfs, HR 7672B implies that brown dwarf
companions do exist at separations comparable to those of the giant planets in
our own solar system. Its presence is at variance with scenarios where brown
dwarfs form as ejected stellar embryos. Moreover, since HR 7672B is likely too
massive to have formed in a circumstellar disk as planets are believed to, its
discovery suggests that a diversity of physical processes act to populate the
outer regions of exoplanetary systems.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, in pres
New insights on the AU-scale circumstellar structure of FU Orionis
We report new near-infrared, long-baseline interferometric observations at
the AU scale of the pre-main-sequence star FU Orionis with the PTI, IOTA and
VLTI interferometers. This young stellar object has been observed on 42 nights
over a period of 6 years from 1998 to 2003. We have obtained 287 independent
measurements of the fringe visibility with 6 different baselines ranging from
20 to 110 meters in length, in the H and K bands. Our extensive (u,v)-plane
coverage, coupled with the published spectral energy distribution data, allows
us to test the accretion disk scenario. We find that the most probable
explanation for these observations is that FU Ori hosts an active accretion
disk whose temperature law is consistent with standard models. We are able to
constrain the geometry of the disk, including an inclination of 55 deg and a
position angle of 47 deg. In addition, a 10 percent peak-to-peak oscillation is
detected in the data (at the two-sigma level) from the longest baselines, which
we interpret as a possible disk hot-spot or companion. However, the oscillation
in our best data set is best explained with an unresolved spot located at a
projected distance of 10 AU at the 130 deg position angle and with a magnitude
difference of DeltaK = 3.9 and DeltaH = 3.6 mag moving away from the center at
a rate of 1.2 AU/yr. we propose to interpret this spot as the signature of a
companion of the central FU Ori system on an extremely eccentric orbit. We
speculate that the close encounter of this putative companion and the central
star could be the explanation of the initial photometric rise of the luminosity
of this object
Ages for illustrative field stars using gyrochronology: viability, limitations and errors
We here develop an improved way of using a rotating star as a clock, set it
using the Sun, and demonstrate that it keeps time well. This technique, called
gyrochronology, permits the derivation of ages for solar- and late-type main
sequence stars using only their rotation periods and colors. The technique is
clarified and developed here, and used to derive ages for illustrative groups
of nearby, late-type field stars with measured rotation periods. We first
demonstrate the reality of the interface sequence, the unifying feature of the
rotational observations of cluster and field stars that makes the technique
possible, and extends it beyond the proposal of Skumanich by specifying the
mass dependence of rotation for these stars. We delineate which stars it cannot
currently be used on. We then calibrate the age dependence using the Sun. The
errors are propagated to understand their dependence on color and period.
Representative age errors associated with the technique are estimated at ~15%
(plus possible systematic errors) for late-F, G, K, & early-M stars. Ages
derived via gyrochronology for the Mt. Wilson stars are shown to be in good
agreement with chromospheric ages for all but the bluest stars, and probably
superior. Gyro ages are then calculated for each of the active main sequence
field stars studied by Strassmeier and collaborators where other ages are not
available. These are shown to be mostly younger than 1Gyr, with a median age of
365Myr. The sample of single, late-type main sequence field stars assembled by
Pizzolato and collaborators is then assessed, and shown to have gyro ages
ranging from under 100Myr to several Gyr, and a median age of 1.2Gyr. Finally,
we demonstrate that the individual components of the three wide binaries
XiBooAB, 61CygAB, & AlphaCenAB yield substantially the same gyro ages.Comment: 58 pages, 18 color figures, accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal; Age uncertainties slightly modified upon correcting an
algebraic error in Section
Discovery of a Tight Brown Dwarf Companion to the Low Mass Star LHS 2397a
Using the adaptive optics system, Hokupa'a, at Gemini-North, we have directly
imaged a companion around the UKIRT faint standard M8 star, LHS 2397a (FS 129)
at a separation of 2.96 AU. Near-Infrared photometry of the companion has shown
it to be an L7.5 brown dwarf and confirmed the spectral type of the primary to
be M8. We also derive a substellar mass of the companion of 0.068 Msun,
although masses in the range (0.061-0.069) are possible, and the primary mass
as 0.090 Msun (0.089-0.094). Reanalysis of archival imaging from HST has
confirmed the secondary as a common proper motion object. This binary
represents the first clear example of a brown dwarf companion within 4 AU of a
low mass star and should be one of the first late L dwarfs to have a dynamical
mass. As part of a larger survey of M8-L0 stars, this object may indicate that
there is no ``brown dwarf desert'' around low mass primaries.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
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