English

Individual Dynamical Masses of Ultracool Dwarfs

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2017-08-09 v2 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Abstract

We present the full results of our decade-long astrometric monitoring programs targeting 31 ultracool binaries with component spectral types M7-T5. Joint analysis of resolved imaging from Keck Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope and unresolved astrometry from CFHT/WIRCam yields parallactic distances for all systems, robust orbit determinations for 23 systems, and photocenter orbits for 19 systems. As a result, we measure 38 precise individual masses spanning 30-115 MJupM_{\rm Jup}. We determine a model-independent substellar boundary that is \approx70 MJupM_{\rm Jup} in mass (\approxL4 in spectral type), and we validate Baraffe et al. (2015) evolutionary model predictions for the lithium-depletion boundary (60 MJupM_{\rm Jup} at field ages). Assuming each binary is coeval, we test models of the substellar mass-luminosity relation and find that in the L/T transition, only the Saumon & Marley (2008) "hybrid" models accounting for cloud clearing match our data. We derive a precise, mass-calibrated spectral type-effective temperature relation covering 1100-2800 K. Our masses enable a novel direct determination of the age distribution of field brown dwarfs spanning L4-T5 and 30-70 MJupM_{\rm Jup}. We determine a median age of 1.3 Gyr, and our population synthesis modeling indicates our sample is consistent with a constant star formation history modulated by dynamical heating in the Galactic disk. We discover two triple-brown-dwarf systems, the first with directly measured masses and eccentricities. We examine the eccentricity distribution, carefully considering biases and completeness, and find that low-eccentricity orbits are significantly more common among ultracool binaries than solar-type binaries, possibly indicating the early influence of long-lived dissipative gas disks. Overall, this work represents a major advance in the empirical view of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1703.05775,
  title  = {Individual Dynamical Masses of Ultracool Dwarfs},
  author = {Trent J. Dupuy and Michael C. Liu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.05775},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

ApJS, in press. This arxiv posting contains all figures (111 pages) and tables (107 pages). Updated version contains additional acknowledgments and references and corrects typos