English

COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS). III. A Very Red L6 Benchmark Brown Dwarf around a Young M5 Dwarf

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2022-08-17 v1 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Abstract

We present the third discovery from the COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS) program, the COCONUTS-3 system, composed of a young M5 primary star UCAC4 374-046899 and a very red L6 dwarf WISEA J081322.19-152203.2. These two objects have a projected separation of 61'' (1891 au) and are physically associated given their common proper motions and estimated distances. The primary star, COCONUTS-3A, has a mass of 0.123±0.0060.123\pm0.006 M_{\odot} and we estimate its age as 100 Myr to 1 Gyr based on its kinematics and spectrophotometric properties. We derive its metallicity as 0.21±0.070.21 \pm 0.07 dex using empirical calibrations established by older higher-gravity M dwarfs and find this [Fe/H] could be slightly underestimated according to PHOENIX models given COCONUTS-3A's younger age. The companion, COCONUTS-3B, has a near-infrared spectral type of L6±\pm1 INT-G, and we infer physical properties of Teff=136273+48T_{\rm eff} = 1362^{+48}_{-73} K, log(g)=4.960.34+0.15\log{(g)}= 4.96^{+0.15}_{-0.34} dex, R=1.030.06+0.12R = 1.03^{+0.12}_{-0.06} RJup_{\rm Jup}, and M=3918+11M = 39^{+11}_{-18} MJup_{\rm Jup}, using its bolometric luminosity, its host star's age, and hot-start evolution models. We construct cloudy atmospheric model spectra at the evolution-based physical parameters and compare them to COCONUTS-3B's spectrophotometry. We find this companion possesses ample condensate clouds in its photosphere with the data-model discrepancies likely due to the models using an older version of the opacity database. Compared to field-age L6 dwarfs, COCONUTS-3B has fainter absolute magnitudes and a 120 K cooler TeffT_{\rm eff}. Also, the J-K color of this companion is among the reddest for ultracool benchmarks with ages older than a few 100 Myr. COCONUTS-3 likely formed in the same fashion as stellar binaries given the companion-to-host mass ratio of 0.3 and represents a valuable benchmark to quantify the systematics of substellar model atmospheres.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2207.02865,
  title  = {COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS). III. A Very Red L6 Benchmark Brown Dwarf around a Young M5 Dwarf},
  author = {Zhoujian Zhang and Michael C. Liu and Caroline V. Morley and Eugene A. Magnier and Michael A. Tucker and Zachary P. Vanderbosch and Aaron Do and Benjamin J. Shappee},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.02865},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

Accepted by ApJ. 34 pages including 14 figures and 5 tables