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05 November 2024 |
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SDSS J042348.57-041403.5AB: A Brown Dwarf Binary Straddling the L/T Transition | Adam J. Burgasser
; I. Neill Reid
; S. K. Leggett
; J. Davy Kirkpatrick
; James Liebert
; Adam Burrows
; | Date: |
19 Oct 2005 | Affiliation: | MIT), I. Neill Reid (STScI), S. K. Leggett (Joint Astronomy Centre), J. Davy Kirkpatrick (Caltech/IPAC), James Liebert (U. Arizona) and Adam Burrows (U. Arizona | Abstract: | We present the discovery of SDSS J042348.57-041403.5 as a closely-separated (0"16) brown dwarf binary, resolved by the Hubble Space Telescope Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. Physical association is deduced from the angular proximity of the components and constraints on their common proper motion. SDSS0423-0414AB appears to be composed of two brown dwarfs with spectral types L6+/-1 and T2+/-1. Hence, this system straddles the transition between L dwarfs and T dwarfs, a unique evolutionary phase of brown dwarfs characterized by substantial shifts in spectral morphology over an apparently narrow effective temperature range. Binarity explains a number of unusual properties of SDSS 0423-0414, including its overluminosity and high effective temperature compared to other early-type T dwarfs, and possibly its conflicting spectral classifications (L7.5 in the optical, T0 in the near infrared). The relatively short estimated orbital period of this system (~15-20 yr) and the presence of Li I absorption in its combined light spectrum make it an ideal target for both resolved spectroscopy and dynamical mass measurements. SDSS 0423-0414AB joins a growing list of late-L/early-T dwarf binaries, the high percentage of which (~50%) may provide a natural explanation for observed peculiarities across the L/T transition. | Source: | arXiv, astro-ph/0510580 | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites |
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