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Register a new userThe Palomar/Keck Adaptive Optics Survey of Young Solar Analogs: Evidence for a Universal Companion Mass Function
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Stanimir A. Metchev
Publication date
2008
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
Stanimir Metchev
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We present results from an adaptive optics survey for substellar and stellar companions to Sun-like stars. The survey targeted 266 F5-K5 stars in the 3Myr to 3Gyr age range with distances of 10-190pc. Results from the survey include the discovery of two brown dwarf companions (HD49197B and HD203030B), 24 new stellar binaries, and a triple system. We infer that the frequency of 0.012-0.072Msun brown dwarfs in 28-1590AU orbits around young solar analogs is 3.2% (+3.1%,-2.7%; 2sigma limits). The result demonstrates that the deficiency of substellar companions at wide orbital separations from Sun-like stars is less pronounced than in the radial velocity brown dwarf desert. We infer that the mass distribution of companions in 28-1590AU orbits around solar-mass stars follows a continuous dN/dM_2 ~ M_2^(-0.4) relation over the 0.01-1.0Msun secondary mass range. While this functional form is similar to that for <0.1Msun isolated objects, over the entire 0.01-1.0Msun range the mass functions of companions and of isolated objects differ significantly. Based on this conclusion and on similar results from other direct imaging and radial velocity companion surveys in the literature, we argue that the companion mass function follows the same universal form over the entire range between 0-1590AU in orbital semi-major axis and 0.01-20Msun in companion mass. In this context, the relative dearth of substellar versus stellar secondaries at all orbital separations arises naturally from the inferred form of the companion mass function.
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We present first results from the Palomar Adaptive Optics Survey of Young Stars conducted at the Hale 5 m telescope. Through direct imaging we have discovered a brown dwarf and two low-mass stellar companions to the young solar-type stars HD 49197, HD 129333 (EK Dra), and V522 Per, and confirmed a previously suspected companion to RX J0329.1+0118 (Sterzik et al. 1997), at respective separations of 0.95 (43 AU), 0.74 (25 AU), 2.09 (400 AU), and 3.78 (380 AU). Physical association of each binary system is established through common proper motion and/or low-resolution infrared spectroscopy. Based on the companion spectral types, we estimate their masses at 0.06, 0.20, 0.13, and 0.20 Msun, respectively. From analysis of our imaging data combined with archival radial velocity data, we find that the spatially resolved companion to HD 129333 is potentially identical to the previously identified spectroscopic companion to this star (Duquennoy & Mayor 1991). However, a discrepancy with the absolute magnitude suggests that the two companions could also be distinct, with the resolved one being the outermost component of a triple system. The brown dwarf HD 49197B is a new member of a growing list of directly imaged sub-stellar companions at 10-1000 AU separations from main sequence stars, indicating that such brown dwarfs may be more common than initially speculated.
Since a majority of young low-mass stars are members of multiple systems, the study of their stellar and disk configurations is crucial to our understanding of both star and planet formation processes. Here we present near-infrared adaptive optics observations of the young multiple star system VW Cha. The previously known 0.7 arcsec binary is clearly resolved already in our raw J and K band images. We report the discovery of a new, faint companion to the secondary, at an apparent separation of only 0.1 arcsec or 16 AU. Our high-resolution photometric observations also make it possible to measure the J-K colors of each of the three components individually. We detect an infrared excess in the primary, consistent with theoretical models of a circumprimary disk. Analytical and numerical calculations of orbital stability show that VW Cha may be a stable triple system. Using models for the age and total mass of the secondary pair, we estimate the orbital period to be 74 years. Thus, follow-up astrometric observations might yield direct dynamical masses within a few years, and constrain evolutionary models of low-mass stars. Our results demonstrate that adaptive optics imaging in conjunction with deconvolution techniques is a powerful tool for probing close multiple systems.
We report observations obtained with the Keck adaptive optics facility of the nearby (d=9.8 pc) binary Gl~569. The system was known to be composed of a cool primary (dM2) and a very cool secondary (dM8.5) with a separation of 5 (49 Astronomical Units). We have found that Gl~569~B is itself double with a separation of only 0.101$pm$0.002 (1 Astronomical Unit). This detection demonstrates the superb spatial resolution that can be achieved with adaptive optics at Keck. The difference in brightness between Gl~569~B and the companion is $sim$0.5 magnitudes in the J, H and K bands. Thus, both objects have similarly red colors and very likely constitute a very low-mass binary system. For reasonable assumptions about the age (0.12~Gyr--1.0~Gyr) and total mass of the system (0.09~M$_odot$--0.15~M$_odot$), we estimate that the orbital period is $sim$3 years. Follow-up observations will allow us to obtain an astrometric orbit solution and will yield direct dynamical masses that can constrain evolutionary models of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs.
Aims: In this paper we focus on the occurrence of glycolaldehyde (HCOCH2OH) in young solar analogs by performing the first homogeneous and unbiased study of this molecule in the Class 0 protostars of the nearby Perseus star forming region. Methods: We obtained sub-arcsec angular resolution maps at 1.3mm and 1.4mm of glycolaldehyde emission lines using the IRAM Plateau de Bure (PdB) interferometer in the framework of the CALYPSO IRAM large program. Results: Glycolaldehyde has been detected towards 3 Class 0 and 1 Class I protostars out of the 13 continuum sources targeted in Perseus: NGC1333-IRAS2A1, NGC1333-IRAS4A2, NGC1333-IRAS4B1, and SVS13-A. The NGC1333 star forming region looks particularly glycolaldehyde rich, with a rate of occurrence up to 60%. The glycolaldehyde spatial distribution overlaps with the continuum one, tracing the inner 100 au around the protostar. A large number of lines (up to 18), with upper-level energies Eu from 37 K up to 375 K has been detected. We derived column densities > 10^15 cm^-2 and rotational temperatures Trot between 115 K and 236 K, imaging for the first time hot-corinos around NGC1333-IRAS4B1 and SVS13-A. Conclusions: In multiple systems glycolaldehyde emission is detected only in one component. The case of the SVS13-A+B and IRAS4-A1+A2 systems support that the detection of glycolaldehyde (at least in the present Perseus sample) indicates older protostars (i.e. SVS13-A and IRAS4-A2), evolved enough to develop the hot-corino region (i.e. 100 K in the inner 100 au). However, only two systems do not allow us to firmly conclude whether the primary factor leading to the detection of glycolaldehyde emission is the environments hosting the protostars, evolution (e.g. low value of Lsubmm/Lint), or accretion luminosity (high Lint).
High-resolution (R ~ 90,000) spectra of 34 nearby, young Sun-like stars were analyzed using stellar atmosphere models to estimate effective photosphere temperatures, surface gravities, and the abundance of certain heavy elements (C, Na, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Ti, Fe, and Ni). The effective temperatures derived from spectroscopy were compared with temperatures estimated using optical and near-infrared photometry. In many cases the spectroscopic temperatures are significantly higher than the photometric estimates, possibly as a result of spottedness or chromospheric activity on these active stars. Values of effective temperature, surface gravity, and luminosity were compared to theoretical stellar evolution tracks and the evolutionary status of these objects was evaluated. The correlation between heavy element abundance patterns and kinematics (space motion) was also examined. Two nearby stars that were tentatively assigned to the Hyades cluster based on kinematics have Fe abundances that are also consistent with membership in that cluster. Members of the Ursa Major kinematic group exhibit a range of [Fe/H] values but have monotonic [Si/Fe]. These two observations suggest that heterogeneous incorporation of the heavy elements into protostars is creating the variation in metallicity. Local Association members have a distinctly different Si/Fe that probably reflects their distinct origin and chemical inheritance.
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