ON THE BINARY FREQUENCY OF THE LOWEST MASS MEMBERS OF THE PLEIADES WITH HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE WIDE FIELD CAMERA 3
- Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff (United States)
- The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Astronomy, 2515 Speedway C1400, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837 (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
We present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) imaging survey of 11 of the lowest mass brown dwarfs in the Pleiades known (25–40 M{sub Jup}). These objects represent the predecessors to T dwarfs in the field. Using a semi-empirical binary point-spread function (PSF)-fitting technique, we are able to probe to 0.″ 03 (0.75 pixel), better than 2x the WFC3/UVIS diffraction limit. We did not find any companions to our targets. From extensive testing of our PSF-fitting method on simulated binaries, we compute detection limits which rule out companions to our targets with mass ratios of ≳0.7 and separations ≳4 AU. Thus, our survey is the first to attain the high angular resolution needed to resolve brown dwarf binaries in the Pleiades at separations that are most common in the field population. We constrain the binary frequency over this range of separation and mass ratio of 25–40 M{sub Jup} Pleiades brown dwarfs to be <11% for 1σ (<26% at 2σ). This binary frequency is consistent with both younger and older brown dwarfs in this mass range.
- OSTI ID:
- 22522459
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 804, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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