ABSTRACT
Stellar multiplicity is believed to influence planetary formation and evolution, although the precise nature and extent of this role remain ambiguous. We present a study aimed at testing the ...role of stellar multiplicity in the formation and/or evolution of the most massive, close-in planetary and substellar companions. Using past and new direct imaging observations, as well as the Gaia DR2 catalogue, we searched for wide binary companions to 38 stars hosting massive giant planets or brown dwarfs (M > 7 MJup) on orbits shorter than ∼1 au. We report the discovery of a new component in the WASP-14 system, and present an independent confirmation of a comoving companion to WASP-18. From a robust Bayesian statistical analysis, we derived a binary fraction of $79.0^{+13.2}_{-14.7}$ per cent between 20 and 10 000 au for our sample, twice as high as for field stars with a 3σ significance. This binary frequency was found to be larger than for lower-mass planets on similar orbits, and we observed a marginally higher binary rate for inner companions with periods shorter than 10 d. These results demonstrate that stellar companions greatly influence the formation and/or evolution of these systems, suggesting that the role played by binary companions becomes more important for higher-mass planets, and that this trend may be enhanced for systems with tighter orbits. Our analysis also revealed a peak in binary separation at 250 au, highlighting a shortfall of close binaries among our sample. This indicates that the mechanisms affecting planet and brown dwarf formation or evolution in binaries must operate from wide separations, although we found that the Kozai–Lidov mechanism is unlikely to be the dominant underlying process. We conclude that binarity plays a crucial role in the existence of very massive short-period giant planets and brown dwarf desert inhabitants, which are almost exclusively observed in multiple systems.
ABSTRACT
In the second paper of this series, we perfected our method of linking high-precision Hubble Space Telescope astrometry to the high-accuracy Gaia DR2 absolute reference system to overcome ...the limitations of relative astrometry with narrow-field cameras. Our test case here is the Y brown dwarf WISE J163940.83−684738.6, observed at different epochs spread over a 6-yr time baseline with the Infra-Red channel of the Wide Field Camera 3. We derived significantly improved astrometric parameters compared to previous determinations, finding (μαcos δ, μδ, ϖ) = (577.21 ± 0.24 mas yr−1, −3108.39 ± 0.27 mas yr−1, 210.4 ± 1.8 mas). In particular, our derived absolute parallax (ϖ
) corresponds to a distance of 4.75 ± 0.05 pc for the faint ultracool dwarf.
ABSTRACT
The last decade of direct imaging (DI) searches for sub-stellar companions has uncovered a widely diverse sample that challenges the current formation models, while highlighting the ...intrinsically low occurrence rate of wide companions, especially at the lower end of the mass distribution. These results clearly show how blind surveys, crucial to constrain the underlying planet and sub-stellar companion population, are not an efficient way to increase the sample of DI companions. It is therefore becoming clear that efficient target selection methods are essential to ensure a larger number of detections. We present the results of the COPAINS Survey conducted with SPHERE/VLT, searching for sub-stellar companions to stars showing significant proper motion differences (Δμ) between different astrometric catalogues. We observed 25 stars and detected ten companions, including four new BDs: HIP 21152 B, HIP 29724 B, HD 60584 B, and HIP 63734 B. Our results clearly demonstrate how astrometric signatures, in the past only giving access to stellar companions, can now thanks to Gaia reveal companions well in the sub-stellar regime. We also introduce FORECAST (Finely Optimised REtrieval of Companions of Accelerating STars), a tool which allows to check the agreement between position and mass of the detected companions with the measured Δμ. Given the agreement between the values of the masses of the new sub-stellar companions from the photometry with the model-independent ones obtained with FORECAST, the results of COPAINS represent a significant increase in the number of potential benchmarks for BD and planet formation and evolution theories.
ABSTRACT
We present COPAINS (Code for Orbital Parametrization of Astrometrically Inferred New Systems), an innovative tool developed to identify previously undiscovered companions detectable via ...direct imaging, based on changes in stellar proper motions across multiple astrometric catalogues. This powerful procedure allows for dynamical predictions of the possible masses and separations of unseen companions compatible with observed astrometric trends, marginalized over unknown orbital elements. Validating our approach using well-constrained systems, we found that our tool provides a good indication of the region of the parameter space where undetected secondaries may be located. Comparing the output of the code to the measured or expected sensitivity from various imaging instruments, this in turn enables us to robustly select the most promising targets for direct imaging campaigns searching for low-mass companions. Such an informed selection method promises to reduce the null detection rates from current programmes and will significantly increase the current census of wide brown dwarfs and planetary companions to stars, which remain extremely rare in the surveys conducted so far.
ABSTRACT
We present the discovery of a white dwarf companion at ∼3.6 arcsec from GJ 3346, a nearby (π ∼ 42 mas) K star observed with SPHERE@VLT as part of an open time survey for faint companions to ...objects with significant proper motion discrepancies (Δμ) between Gaia DR1 and Tycho-2. Syrius-like systems like GJ 3346 AB, which include a main-sequence star and a white dwarf, can be difficult to detect because of the intrinsic faintness of the latter. They have, however, been found to be common contaminants for direct imaging (DI) searches. White dwarfs have in fact similar brightness to substellar companions in the infrared, while being much brighter in the visible bands like those used by Gaia. Combining our observations with Gaia DR2 and with several additional archival data sets, we were able to fully constrain the physical properties of GJ 3346 B, such as its effective temperature (11 × 103 ± 500 K) as well as the cooling age of the system (648 ± 58 Myr). This allowed us to better understand the system history and to partially explain the discrepancies previously noted in the age indicators for this object. Although further investigation is still needed, it seems that GJ 3346, which was previously classified as young, is in fact most likely to be older than 4 Gyr. Finally, given that the mass (0.58 ± 0.01 M⊙) and separation (85 au) of GJ 3346 B are compatible with the observed Δμ, this discovery represents a further confirmation of the potential of this kind of dynamical signatures as selection methods for DI surveys targeting faint, substellar companions.
Context. Understanding the diversity of planets requires studying the morphology and physical conditions in the protoplanetary disks in which they form. Aims. We aim to study the structure of the ~10 ...Myr old protoplanetary disk HD 100453, to detect features that can trace disk evolution and to understand the mechanisms that drive these features. Methods. We observed HD 100453 in polarized scattered light with VLT/SPHERE at optical (0.6 μm, 0.8 μm) and near-infrared (1.2 μm) wavelengths, reaching an angular resolution of ~0.02′′, and an inner working angle of ~0.09′′. Results. We spatially resolve the disk around HD 100453, and detect polarized scattered light up to ~0.42′′ (~48 au). We detect a cavity, a rim with azimuthal brightness variations at an inclination of ~38° with respect to our line of sight, two shadows and two symmetric spiral arms. The spiral arms originate near the location of the shadows, close to the semi major axis. We detect a faint feature in the SW that can be interpreted as the scattering surface of the bottom side of the disk, if the disk is tidally truncated by the M-dwarf companion currently seen at a projected distance of ~119 au. We construct a radiative transfer model that accounts for the main characteristics of the features with an inner and outer disk misaligned by ~72°. The azimuthal brightness variations along the rim are well reproduced with the scattering phase function of the model. While spirals can be triggered by the tidal interaction with the companion, the close proximity of the spirals to the shadows suggests that the shadows could also play a role. The change in stellar illumination along the rim induces an azimuthal variation of the scale height that can contribute to the brightness variations. Conclusions. Dark regions in polarized images of transition disks are now detected in a handful of disks and often interpreted as shadows due to a misaligned inner disk. However, the origin of such a misalignment in HD 100453, and of the spirals, is still unclear, and might be due to a yet-undetected massive companion inside the cavity, and on an inclined orbit. Observations over a few years will allow us to measure the spiral pattern speed, and determine if the shadows are fixed or moving, which may constrain their origin.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we present our project that aims at determining accurate distances and proper motions for the Y brown dwarf population using the Hubble Space Telescope. We validate the ...program with our first results, using a single new epoch of observations of the Y0pec dwarf WISE J163940.83−684738.6. These new data allowed us to refine its proper motion and improve the accuracy of its parallax by a factor of three compared to previous determinations, now constrained to ϖ = 211.11 ± 0.56 mas. This newly derived absolute parallax corresponds to a distance of 4.737 ± 0.013 pc, an exquisite and unprecedented precision for faint ultracool Y dwarfs.
Abstract
The last decade of direct imaging (DI) searches for sub-stellar companions has uncovered a widely diverse sample that challenges the current formation models, while highlighting the ...intrinsically low occurrence rate of wide companions, especially at the lower end of the mass distribution. These results clearly show how blind surveys, crucial to constrain the underlying planet and sub-stellar companion population, are not an efficient way to increase the sample of DI companions. It is therefore becoming clear that efficient target selection methods are essential to ensure a larger number of detections. We present the results of the COPAINS Survey conducted with SPHERE/VLT, searching for sub-stellar companions to stars showing significant proper motion differences (Δμ) between different astrometric catalogues. We observed twenty-five stars and detected ten companions, including four new brown dwarfs: HIP 21152 B, HIP 29724 B, HD 60584 B and HIP 63734 B. Our results clearly demonstrates how astrometric signatures, in the past only giving access to stellar companions, can now thanks to Gaia reveal companions well in the sub-stellar regime. We also introduce FORECAST (Finley Optimised REtrieval of Companions of Accelerating STars), a tool which allows to check the agreement between position and mass of the detected companions with the measured Δμ. Given the agreement between the values of the masses of the new sub-stellar companions from the photometry with the model-independent ones obtained with FORECAST, the results of COPAINS represent a significant increase of the number of potential benchmarks for brown dwarf and planet formation and evolution theories.
Aims. HD 142527 is one of the most frequently studied Herbig Ae/Be stars with a transitional disk that hosts a large cavity that is up to about 100 au in radius. For this reason, it has been included ...in the guaranteed time observation (GTO) SpHere INfrared survey for Exoplanets (SHINE) as part of the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in order to search for low-mass companions that might explain the presence of the gap. SHINE is a large survey within about 600 young nearby stars are observed with SPHERE with the aim to constrain the occurrence and orbital properties of the giant planet population at large (> 5 au) orbital separation around young stars. Methods. We used the IRDIFS observing mode of SPHERE (IRDIS short for infrared dual imaging and spectrograph plus IFS or integral field spectrograph) without any coronagraph in order to search for and characterize companions as close as 30 mas of the star. Furthermore, we present the first observations that ever used the sparse aperture mask (SAM) for SPHERE both in IRDIFS and IRDIFS_EXT modes. All the data were reduced using the dedicated SPHERE pipeline and dedicated algorithms that make use of the principal component analysis (PCA) and reference differential imaging (RDI) techniques. Results. We detect the accreting low–mass companion HD 142527B at a separation of 73 mas (11.4 au) from the star. No other companions with mass greater than 10 MJ are visible in the field of view of IFS (∼100 au centered on the star) or in the IRDIS field of view (∼400 au centered on the star). Measurements from IFS, SAM IFS, and IRDIS suggest an M6 spectral type for HD 142527B, with an uncertainty of one spectral subtype, compatible with an object of M = 0.11 ± 0.06 M⊙ and R = 0.15 ± 0.07 R⊙. The determination of the mass remains a challenge using contemporary evolutionary models, as they do not account for the energy input due to accretion from infalling material. We consider that the spectral type of the secondary may also be earlier than the type we derived from IFS spectra. From dynamical considerations, we further constrain the mass to 0.26+0.16−0.14 0 . 26 − 0.14 + 0.16 $ 0.26^{+0.16}_{-0.14} $ M⊙, which is consistent with both our spectroscopic analysis and the values reported in the literature. Following previous methods, the lower and upper dynamical mass values correspond to a spectral type between M2.5 and M5.5 for the companion. By fitting the astrometric points, we find the following orbital parameters: a period of P = 35 − 137 yr; an inclination of i = 121 − 130°, a value of Ω = 124 − 135° for the longitude of node, and an 68% confidence interval of ∼18 − 57 au for the separation at periapsis. Eccentricity and time at periapsis passage exhibit two groups of values: ∼0.2–0.45 and ∼0.45–0.7 for e, and ∼2015–2020 and ∼2020–2022 for T0. While these orbital parameters might at first suggest that HD 142527B is not the companion responsible for the outer disk truncation, a previous hydrodynamical analysis of this system showed that they are compatible with a companion that is able to produce the large cavity and other observed features.
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