Title: Point source polarimetry with the Gemini planet imager: Sensitivity characterization with T5.5 dwarf companion HD 19467 B

Abstract

Detecting polarized light from self-luminous exoplanets has the potential to provide key information about rotation, surface gravity, cloud grain size, and cloud coverage. While field brown dwarfs with detected polarized emission are common, no exoplanet or substellar companion has yet been detected in polarized light. With the advent of high contrast imaging spectro-polarimeters such as GPI and SPHERE, such a detection may now be possible with careful treatment of instrumental polarization. In this paper, we present 28 minutes of H-band GPI polarimetric observations of the benchmark T5.5 companion HD 19467 B. We detect no polarization signal from the target, and place an upper limit on the degree of linear polarization of $${p}_{\mathrm{CL}99.73\%}\leqslant 2.4\%$$. In conclusion, we discuss our results in the context of T dwarf cloud models and photometric variability.

Authors:

Jensen-Clem, Rebecca ^[1]; Millar-Blanchaer, Max  ^[2];

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Mawet, Dimitri  ^[1];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-8895-4735"

Graham, James R. ^[3]; Wallace, J. Kent ^[1]; Macintosh, Bruce  ^[4];

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Hinkley, Sasha ^[5]; Wiktorowicz, Sloane J.  ^[6];

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Perrin, Marshall D.  ^[7];

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Marley, Mark S. ^[8]; Fitzgerald, Michael P.  ^[9];

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Oppenheimer, Rebecca  ^[10];

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Ammons, S. Mark  ^[11];

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Rantakyrö, Fredrik T.  ^[12];

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Marchis, Franck  ^[13]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
2. Univ. of Toronto, Toronto, ON (Canada)
3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
4. Stanford Univ., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
5. Univ. of Exeter, Exeter (United Kingdom)
6. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
7. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD (United States)
8. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (United States)
9. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
10. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY (United States)
11. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
12. Gemini Observatory, La Serena (Chile)
13. SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA (United States)

Publication Date:

Tue Mar 29 00:00:00 EDT 2016

Research Org.:

Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1324522

Report Number(s):

LLNL-JRNL-678637
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC52-07NA27344

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

The Astrophysical Journal (Online)

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 820; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357

Publisher:

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; brown dwarfs; stars: individual (HD 19467); techniques; high angular resolution; techniques: polarimetric