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Adam J. Burgasser
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[Abridged] We report observations of the recently discovered, nearby late-M dwarf WISE J072003.20-084651.2. Astrometric measurements obtained with TRAPPIST improve the distance measurement to 6.0$pm$1.0 pc and confirm the low tangential velocity (3.5$pm$0.6 km/s) reported by Scholz. Low-resolution optical spectroscopy indicates a spectral type of M9.5 and prominent H$alpha$ emission (<LH$alpha$/Lbol> = -4.68$pm$0.06), but no evidence of subsolar metallicity or Li I absorption. Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals subtle peculiarities indicating the presence of a T5 binary companion, and high-resolution laser guide star adaptive optics imaging reveals a faint ($Delta$H = 4.1) candidate source 014 (0.8 AU) from the primary. We measure a stable radial velocity of +83.8$pm$0.3 km/s, indicative of old disk kinematics and consistent with the angular separation of the possible companion. We measure a projected rotational velocity of v sin i = 8.0$pm$0.5 km/s, and find evidence of low-level variability (~1.5%) in a 13-day TRAPPIST lightcurve, but cannot robustly constrain the rotational period. We also observe episodic changes in brightness (1-2%) and occasional flare bursts (4-8%) with a 0.8% duty cycle, and order-of-magnitude variations in H$alpha$ line strength. Combined, these observations reveal WISE J0720-0846 to be an old, very low-mass binary whose components straddle the hydrogen burning minimum mass, and whose primary is a relatively rapid rotator and magnetically active. It is one of only two known binaries among late M dwarfs within 10 pc of the Sun, both harboring a mid T-type brown dwarf companion. While this specific configuration is rare (1.4% probability), roughly 25% of binary companions to late-type M dwarfs in the local population are likely low-temperature T or Y brown dwarfs.
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The severe crowding towards the Galactic plane suggests that the census of nearby stars in that direction may be incomplete. Recently, Scholz reported a new M9 object at an estimated distance d~7 pc (WISE J072003.20-084651.2; hereafter WISE0720) at Galactic latitude b=2.3 degr. Our goals are to determine the physical characteristics of WISE0720, its kinematic properties, and to address the question if it is a binary object, as suggested in the discovery paper. Optical and infrared spectroscopy from the Southern African Large Telescope and Magellan, respectively, and spectral energy distribution fitting were used to determine the spectral type of WISE0720. The measured radial velocity, proper motion and parallax yielded its Galactic velocities. We also investigated if WISE0720 may show X-ray activity based on archival data. Our spectra are consistent with spectral type L0+/-1. We find no evidence for binarity, apart for a minor 2-sigma level difference in the radial velocities taken at two different epochs. The spatial velocity of WISE0720 does not connect it to any known moving group, instead it places the object with high probability in the old thin disk or in the thick disk. The spectral energy distribution fit hints at excess in the 12 and 22 micron WISE bands which may be due to a redder companion, but the same excess is visible in other late type objects, and it more likely implies a shortcoming of the models (e.g., issues with the effective wavelengths of the filters for these extremely cool objects, etc.) rather than a disk or redder companion. The optical spectrum shows some Halpha emission, indicative of stellar activity. Archival X-ray observations yield no detection.
We report the detection of radio emission and orbital motion from the nearby star-brown dwarf binary WISE J072003.20-084651.2AB. Radio observations across the 4.5-6.5 GHz band with the Very Large Array identify at the position of the system quiescent emission with a flux density of 15$pm$3 $mu$Jy, and a highly-polarized radio source that underwent a 2-3 min burst with peak flux density 300$pm$90 $mu$Jy. The latter emission is likely a low-level magnetic flare similar to optical flares previously observed for this source. No outbursts were detected in separate narrow-band H$alpha$ monitoring observations. We report new high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations that confirm the presence of a co-moving T5.5 secondary and provide the first indications of three-dimensional orbital motion. We used these data to revise our estimates for the orbital period (4.1$^{+2.7}_{-1.3}$ yr) and tightly constrain the orbital inclination to be nearly edge-on (93.6deg$^{+1.6deg}_{-1.4deg}$), although robust measures of the component and system masses will require further monitoring. The inferred orbital motion does not change the high likelihood that this radio-emitting very low-mass binary made a close pass to the Sun in the past 100 kyr.
[not part of RNAAS note] We report the discovery of WISE J000100.45+065259.6 as a very low mass star/brown dwarf spectral binary candidate, on the basis of low resolution near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with IRTF/SpeX. Decomposition of the spectrum indicates component types of M8.5+T5 with a predicted $Delta{J}$ = 3.5. As the majority of confirmed spectral binary candidates to date are very closely-separated systems ($rho$ $lesssim$ 3 AU; $P$ $lesssim$ 15~yr), this source may provide mass measurements across the hydrogen burning limit within the decade.
Luhman (2013) has reported the discovery of a brown dwarf binary system only 2.01+/-0.15 pc from the Sun. The binary is well-resolved with a projected separation of 1.5, and spectroscopic observations have identified the components as late-L and early-T dwarfs. The system exhibits several remarkable traits, including a flux reversal, where the T dwarf is brighter over 0.9-1.3 micron but fainter at other wavelengths; and significant (~10%) short-period (~4.9 hr) photometric variability with a complex light curve. These observations suggest spatial variations in condensate cloud structure, which is known to evolve substantially across the L dwarf/T dwarf transition. Here we report preliminary results from a multi-site monitoring campaign aimed at probing the spectral and temporal properties of this source. Focusing on our spectroscopic observations, we report the first detections of NIR spectral variability, present detailed analysis of K I lines that confirm differences in condensate opacity between the components; and preliminary determinations of radial and rotational velocities based on high-resolution NIR spectroscopy.
We present individual dynamical masses for the nearby M9.5+T5.5 binary WISE J072003.20$-$084651.2AB, a.k.a. Scholzs star. Combining high-precision CFHT/WIRCam photocenter astrometry and Keck adaptive optics resolved imaging, we measure the first high-quality parallactic distance ($6.80_{-0.06}^{+0.05}$ pc) and orbit ($8.06_{-0.25}^{+0.24}$ yr period) for this system composed of a low-mass star and brown dwarf. We find a moderately eccentric orbit ($e = 0.240_{-0.010}^{+0.009}$), incompatible with previous work based on less data, and dynamical masses of $99pm6$ $M_{rm Jup}$ and $66pm4$ $M_{rm Jup}$ for the two components. The primary mass is marginally inconsistent (2.1$sigma$) with the empirical mass$-$magnitude$-$metallicity relation and models of main-sequence stars. The relatively high mass of the cold ($T_{rm eff} = 1250pm40$ K) brown dwarf companion indicates an age older than a few Gyr, in accord with age estimates for the primary star, and is consistent with our recent estimate of $approx$70 $M_{rm Jup}$ for the stellar/substellar boundary among the field population. Our improved parallax and proper motion, as well as an orbit-corrected system velocity, improve the accuracy of the systems close encounter with the solar system by an order of magnitude. WISE J0720$-$0846AB passed within $68.7pm2.0$ kAU of the Sun $80.5pm0.7$ kyr ago, passing through the outer Oort cloud where comets can have stable orbits.
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