DISCOVERY OF A LOW-MASS COMPANION TO A METAL-RICH F STAR WITH THE MARVELS PILOT PROJECT
- Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, Gainesville, FL 326711-2055 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
- Torun Center for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Gagarina 11, 87-100, Torun (Poland)
- Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034 (India)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, P.O. Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States)
We report the discovery of a low-mass companion orbiting the metal-rich, main sequence F star TYC 2949-00557-1 during the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS) pilot project. The host star has an effective temperature T{sub eff} = 6135 {+-} 40 K, logg = 4.4 {+-} 0.1, and [Fe/H] = 0.32 {+-} 0.01, indicating a mass of M = 1.25 {+-} 0.09 M{sub sun} and R = 1.15 {+-} 0.15 R{sub sun}. The companion has an orbital period of 5.69449 {+-} 0.00023 days and straddles the hydrogen burning limit with a minimum mass of 64 M{sub J} , and thus may be an example of the rare class of brown dwarfs orbiting at distances comparable to those of 'Hot Jupiters'. We present relative photometry that demonstrates that the host star is photometrically stable at the few millimagnitude level on time scales of hours to years, and rules out transits for a companion of radius {approx}>0.8 R{sub J} at the 95% confidence level. Tidal analysis of the system suggests that the star and companion are likely in a double synchronous state where both rotational and orbital synchronization have been achieved. This is the first low-mass companion detected with a multi-object, dispersed, fixed-delay interferometer.
- OSTI ID:
- 21455073
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 718, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/718/2/1186; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
VERY LOW MASS STELLAR AND SUBSTELLAR COMPANIONS TO SOLAR-LIKE STARS FROM MARVELS. I. A LOW-MASS RATIO STELLAR COMPANION TO TYC 4110-01037-1 IN A 79 DAY ORBIT
VERY LOW MASS STELLAR AND SUBSTELLAR COMPANIONS TO SOLAR-LIKE STARS FROM MARVELS. IV. A CANDIDATE BROWN DWARF OR LOW-MASS STELLAR COMPANION TO HIP 67526