ABSTRACT We present the results of ALMA band 7 observations of dust and CO gas in the disks around 7 objects with spectral types ranging between M5.5 and M7.5 in Upper Scorpius OB1, and one M3 star ...in Ophiuchus. We detect unresolved continuum emission in all but one source, and the 12CO J = 3 − 2 line in two sources. We constrain the dust and gas content of these systems using a grid of models calculated with the radiative transfer code MCFOST, and find disk dust masses between 0.1 and 1 M⊕, suggesting that the stellar mass/disk mass correlation can be extrapolated for brown dwarfs (BDs) with masses as low as 0.05 M . The one disk in Upper Sco in which we detect CO emission, 2MASS J15555600, is also the disk with the warmest inner disk, as traced by its H-4.5 photometric color. Using our radiative transfer grid, we extend the correlation between stellar luminosity and mass-averaged disk dust temperature, originally derived for stellar mass objects, to the BD regime to , applicable to spectral types of M5 and later. This is slightly shallower than the relation for earlier spectral type objects and yields warmer low-mass disks. The two prescriptions cross at 0.27 L , corresponding to masses between 0.1 and 0.2 M depending on age.
Abstract Accretion rates ( M ̇ ) of young stars show a strong correlation with object mass ( M ); however, extension of the M ̇ – M relation into the substellar regime is less certain. Here, we ...present the Comprehensive Archive of Substellar and Planetary Accretion Rates (CASPAR), the largest compilation to date of substellar accretion diagnostics. CASPAR includes: 658 stars, 130 brown dwarfs, and 10 bound planetary mass companions. In this work, we investigate the contribution of methodological systematics to scatter in the M ̇ – M relation and compare brown dwarfs to stars. In our analysis, we rederive all quantities using self-consistent models, distances, and empirical line flux to accretion luminosity scaling relations to reduce methodological systematics. This treatment decreases the original 1 σ scatter in the log M ̇ – log M relation by ∼17%, suggesting that it makes only a small contribution to the dispersion. The CASPAR rederived values are best fit by M ̇ ∝ M 2.02 ± 0.06 from 10 M J to 2 M ⊙ , confirming previous results. However, we argue that the brown-dwarf and stellar populations are better described separately and by accounting for both mass and age. Therefore, we derive separate age-dependent M ̇ – M relations for these regions and find a steepening in the brown-dwarf M ̇ – M slope with age. Within this mass regime, the scatter decreases from 1.36 dex to 0.94 dex, a change of ∼44%. This result highlights the significant role that evolution plays in the overall spread of accretion rates, and suggests that brown dwarfs evolve faster than stars, potentially as a result of different accretion mechanisms.
We present a large-scale, volume-limited companion survey of 245 late-K to mid-M (K7-M6) dwarfs within 15 pc. Infrared adaptive optics (AO) data were analysed from the Very Large Telescope, Subaru ...Telescope, Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, and MMT Observatory to detect close companions to the sample from ∼ 1 to 100 au, while digitized wide-field archival plates were searched for wide companions from ∼ 100 to 10 000 au. With sensitivity to the bottom of the main sequence over a separation range of 3 to 10 000 au, multiple AO and wide-field epochs allow us to confirm candidates with common proper motions, minimize background contamination, and enable a measurement of comprehensive binary statistics. We detected 65 comoving stellar companions and find a companion star fraction of 23.5 ± 3.2 per cent over the 3 au to 10 000 au separation range. The companion separation distribution is observed to rise to a higher frequency at smaller separations, peaking at closer separations than measured for more massive primaries. The mass ratio distribution across the q = 0.2–1.0 range is flat, similar to that of multiple systems with solar-type primaries. The characterization of binary and multiple star frequency for low-mass field stars can provide crucial comparisons with star-forming environments and hold implications for the frequency and evolutionary histories of their associated discs and planets.
We report 885 m ALMA continuum flux densities for 24 Taurus members spanning the stellar/substellar boundary with spectral types from M4 to M7.75. Of the 24 systems, 22 are detected at levels ranging ...from 1.0 to 55.7 mJy. The two nondetections are transition disks, though other transition disks in the sample are detected. Converting ALMA continuum measurements to masses using standard scaling laws and radiative transfer modeling yields dust mass estimates ranging from ∼0.3 to 20 M⊕. The dust mass shows a declining trend with central object mass when combined with results from submillimeter surveys of more massive Taurus members. The substellar disks appear as part of a continuous sequence and not a distinct population. Compared to older Upper Sco members with similar masses across the substellar limit, the Taurus disks are brighter and more massive. Both Taurus and Upper Sco populations are consistent with an approximately linear relationship in Mdust to Mstar, although derived power-law slopes depend strongly upon choices of stellar evolutionary model and dust temperature relation. The median disk around early-M stars in Taurus contains a comparable amount of mass in small solids as the average amount of heavy elements in Kepler planetary systems on short-period orbits around M-dwarf stars, with an order of magnitude spread in disk dust mass about the median value. Assuming a gas-to-dust ratio of 100:1, only a small number of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs have a total disk mass amenable to giant planet formation, consistent with the low frequency of giant planets orbiting M dwarfs.
Abstract
Accretion signatures from bound brown dwarf and protoplanetary companions provide evidence for ongoing planet formation, and accreting substellar objects have enabled new avenues to study ...the astrophysical mechanisms controlling the formation and accretion processes. Delorme 1 (AB)b, a ∼30–45 Myr circumbinary planetary-mass companion, was recently discovered to exhibit strong H
α
emission. This suggests ongoing accretion from a circumplanetary disk, somewhat surprising given canonical gas disk dispersal timescales of 5–10 Myr. Here, we present the first NIR detection of accretion from the companion in Pa
β
, Pa
γ
, and Br
γ
emission lines from SOAR/TripleSpec 4.1, confirming and further informing its accreting nature. The companion shows strong line emission, with
L
line
≈ 1–6 × 10
−8
L
⊙
across lines and epochs, while the binary host system shows no NIR hydrogen line emission (
L
line
< 0.32–11 × 10
−7
L
⊙
). Observed NIR hydrogen line ratios are more consistent with a planetary accretion shock than with local line excitation models commonly used to interpret stellar magnetospheric accretion. Using planetary accretion shock models, we derive mass accretion rate estimates of
M
̇
pla
∼
3
–4 × 10
−8
M
J
yr
−1
, somewhat higher than expected under the standard star formation paradigm. Delorme 1 (AB)b’s high accretion rate is perhaps more consistent with formation via disk fragmentation. Delorme 1 (AB)b is the first protoplanet candidate with clear (signal-to-noise ratio ∼5) NIR hydrogen line emission.
Disks around brown dwarfs (BDs) are excellent laboratories to study the first steps of planet formation in cold and low-mass disk conditions. The radial-drift velocities of dust particles in BD disks ...higher than in disks around more massive stars. Therefore, BD disks are expected to be more depleted in millimeter-sized grains compared to disks around T Tauri or Herbig Ae/Be stars. However, recent millimeter observations of BD disks revealed low millimeter spectral indices, indicating the presence of large grains in these disks and challenging models of dust evolution. We present 3 mm photometric observations carried out with the IRAM/Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) of three BD disks in the Taurus star-forming region, which have been observed with ALMA at 0.89 mm. The disks were not resolved and only one was detected with enough confidence (∼3.5 ) with PdBI. Based on these observations, we obtain the values and lower limits of the spectral index and find low values ( mm 3.0). We compare these observations in the context of particle trapping by an embedded planet, a promising mechanism to explain the observational signatures in more massive and warmer disks. We find, however, that this model cannot reproduce the current millimeter observations for BD disks, and multiple-strong pressure bumps globally distributed in the disk remain as a favorable scenario to explain observations. Alternative possibilities are that the gas masses in the BD disk are very low (∼2 × 10−3 MJup) such that the millimeter grains are decoupled and do not drift, or fast growth of fluffy aggregates.
We report the discovery of a wide comoving substellar companion to the nearby (D = 67.5 ± 1.1 pc) A3V star ζ Delphini based on imaging and follow-up spectroscopic observations obtained during the ...course of our Volume-limited A-Star (VAST) multiplicity survey. ζ Del was observed over a five-year baseline with adaptive optics, revealing the presence of a previously unresolved companion with a proper motion consistent with that of the A-type primary. The age of the ζ Del system was estimated as 525 ± 125 Myr based on the position of the primary on the colour–magnitude and temperature–luminosity diagrams. Using intermediate-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy, the spectrum of ζ Del B is shown to be consistent with a mid-L dwarf (L5 ± 2), at a temperature of 1650 ± 200 K. Combining the measured near-infrared magnitude of ζ Del B with the estimated temperature leads to a model-dependent mass estimate of 50 ± 15 M
Jup, corresponding to a mass ratio of q = 0.019 ± 0.006. At a projected separation of 910 ± 14 au, ζ Del B is among the most widely separated and extreme-mass ratio substellar companions to a main-sequence star resolved to date, providing a rare empirical constraint of the formation of low-mass ratio companions at extremely wide separations.
With the discovery of Y dwarfs by the WISE mission, the population of field brown dwarfs now extends to objects with temperatures comparable to those of Solar system planets. To investigate the ...atmospheres of these newly identified brown dwarfs, we have conducted a pilot study monitoring an initial sample of three late-T dwarfs (T6.5, T8 and T8.5) and one Y dwarf (Y0) for infrared photometric variability at multiple epochs. With J-band imaging, each target was observed for a period of 1.0–4.5 h per epoch, which covers a significant fraction of the expected rotational period. These measurements represent the first photometric monitoring for these targets. For three of the four targets (2M1047, Ross 458C and WISE0458), multi-epoch monitoring was performed, with the time span between epochs ranging from a few hours to ∼2 years. During the first epoch, the T8.5 target WISE0458 exhibited variations with a remarkable min-to-max amplitude of 13 per cent, while the second epoch light curve taken ∼2 years later did not note any variability to a 3 per cent upper limit. With an effective temperature of ∼600 K, WISE0458 is the coldest variable brown dwarf published to date, and combined with its high and variable amplitude makes it a fascinating target for detailed follow-up. The three remaining targets showed no significant variations, with a photometric precision between 0.8 and 20.0 per cent, depending on the target brightness. Combining the new results with previous multi-epoch observations of brown dwarfs with spectral types of T5 or later, the currently identified variables have locations on the colour–colour diagram better matched by theoretical models incorporating cloud opacities rather than cloud-free atmospheres. This preliminary result requires further study to determine if there is a definitive link between variability among late-T dwarfs and their location on the colour–colour diagram.
With the PACS instrument on Herschel, 134 low mass members of the Taurus star-forming region spanning the M4-L0 spectral type range and covering the transition from low mass stars to brown dwarfs ...were observed. Combining the new Herschel results with other Herschel programs, a total of 150 of the 154 M4-L0 Taurus members have observations, and we have added an additional 3 targets from Spitzer to form the 153-object TBOSS (Taurus Boundary of Stellar/Substellar) sample, a 99% complete study. Among the 150 targets, 70 μm flux densities were measured for 7 of the 7 Class I objects, 48 of the 67 Class II objects, and 3 of the 76 Class III objects. For the detected Class II objects, the median 70 μm flux density level declines with spectral type; however, the distribution of excess relative to central object flux density does not change across the stellar/substellar boundary in the M4-L0 range. Connecting the 70 μm TBOSS values with the results from K0-M3 Class II members results in the first comprehensive census of far-IR emission across the full mass spectrum of the stellar and substellar population of a star-forming region, and the median flux density declines with spectral type in a trend analogous to the flux density decline expected for the central objects. Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) were constructed for all TBOSS targets covering the optical to far-IR range and extending to the submm/mm for a subset of sources with longer wavelength data. Based on an initial exploration of the impact of different physical parameters on the Herschel flux densities, geometrical factors such as inclination and structural parameters such as scale height and flaring have the largest influence on the flux densities in the PACS bands. From the 24 μm to 70 μm spectral index of the SEDs, 5 new candidate transition disks were identified. Considering the previously known and new candidate transition disks, the spectral indices over longer wavelengths (≥70 μm) are not distinct from those of the full Class II population, suggesting that the outer regions of the transition disks are similar to Class II disks. The steep 24 μm to 70 μm slope for a subset of 8 TBOSS targets may be an indication of truncated disks in these systems, however additional measurements are required to establish the outer radii of these disks conclusively. From existing high angular resolution companion search observations, two examples of mixed pair systems that include secondaries with disks were measured in the Herschel data. Finally, comparing the TBOSS results with a Herschel study of Ophiuchus brown dwarfs reveals a lower fraction of disks around the Taurus substellar population with flux densities comparable to the Ophiuchus disks.
PDF
