C. A. Beichman

WISE Y DWARFS AS PROBES OF THE BROWN DWARF-EXOPLANET CONNECTION

We have determined astrometric positions for 15 WISE-discovered late-type brown dwarfs (six T8-9 and nine Y dwarfs) using the Keck-II telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Hubble Space Telescope. Combining data from 8 to 20 epochs we derive parallactic and proper motions for these objects, which puts the majority within 15?pc. For ages greater than a few Gyr, as suggested from kinematic considerations, we find masses of 10-30 M Jup based on standard models for the evolution of low-mass objects with a range of mass estimates for individual objects, depending on the model in question. Three of the coolest objects have effective temperatures ~350?K and inferred masses of 10-15 M Jup. Our parallactic distances confirm earlier photometric estimates and direct measurements and suggest that the number of objects with masses below about 15 M Jup must be flat or declining, relative to higher mass objects. The masses of the coldest Y dwarfs may be similar to those inferred for recently imaged planet-mass companions to nearby young stars. Objects in this mass range, which appear to be rare in both the interstellar and protoplanetary environments, may both have formed via gravitational fragmentation?the brown dwarfs in interstellar clouds and companion objects in a protoplanetary disk. In both cases, however, the fact that objects in this mass range are relatively infrequent suggests that this mechanism must be inefficient in both environments.

IRAS observations of R Coronae Borealis - Detection and study of a fossil shell

IRAS observations of the extreme hydrogen-deficient supergiant R CrB are presented and discussed. The star is surrounded by an enormous cool dust cloud which is tentatively identified as a fossil remnant of the hydrogen-rich envelope of the star. The angular extent of the emission corresponds to a linear extent of 8 pc, 20 times larger than the largest previously known shell around a late-type star. The radiating material is distributed very symmetrically over a wide range of radial distances from the star. The dust temperature is nearly constant throughout the extended shell. The total mass in the shell is about 0.3 solar mass. The ejection process appears to have occurred in a spherically symmetric fashion with a nearly constant mass loss rate and expansion velocity over a period of about 150,000 yr, terminating about 26,000 yr ago.

The nature of unidentified 12 micron IRAS sources at high Galactic latitudes

A sample of 47 previously uncatalogued objects located above a Galactic latitude of 50 deg, and detected at 12 microns by the IRAS, is studied using near-infrared photometry. Ground-based observations show that the objects consist primarily of late-type M giant stars with long-wavelength excesses probably due to emission from dust associated with mass loss. The sample contains one oxygen-rich giant star undergoing rapid mass loss; an extremely cool (1230 K) carbon star 12560-1656 that may be as far as 10 kpc away; and a luminious quasar 13349-2438. The absence of nearby, low-luminosity infrared sources in this sample limits the space density of field brown dwarf stars. The fact that almost all the IRAS 12 micron sources have stellar counterparts visible on both the red and blue Palomar Observatory Sky Survey prints provides a tool for discriminating ordinary red stars. 53 refs.

OGLE-2015-BLG-1482L: The First Isolated Low-mass Microlens in the Galactic Bulge

We analyze the single microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-1482 simultaneously observed from two ground-based surveys and from Spitzer. The Spitzer data exhibit finite-source effects that are due to the passage of the lens close to or directly over the surface of the source star as seen from Spitzer. Such finite-source effects generally yield measurements of the angular Einstein radius, which when combined with the microlens parallax derived from a comparison between the ground-based and the Spitzer light curves yields the lens mass and lens-source relative parallax. From this analysis, we find that the lens of OGLE-2015-BLG-1482 is a very low-mass star with a mass 0.10 ± 0.02 M_☉ or a brown dwarf with a mass 55 ± 9 M_J, which are located at D_(LS) = 0.80 ± 0.19 kpc and D_(LS) = 0.54 ± 0.08 kpc, respectively, where D_(LS) is the distance between the lens and the source, and thus it is the first isolated low-mass microlens that has been decisively located in the Galactic bulge. The degeneracy between the two solutions is severe (Δx^2 = 0.3). The fundamental reason for the degeneracy is that the finite-source effect is seen only in a single data point from Spitzer, and this single data point gives rise to two solutions for ρ, the angular size of the source in units of the angular Einstein ring radius. Because the ρ degeneracy can be resolved only by relatively high-cadence observations around the peak, while the Spitzer cadence is typically ~ 1 day^(-1), we expect that events for which the finite-source effect is seen only in the Spitzer data may frequently exhibit this ρ degeneracy. For OGLE-2015-BLG-1482, the relative proper motion of the lens and source for the low-mass star is µ_(rel) = 9.0 ± 1.9 masyr^(-1), while for the brown dwarf it is 5.5 ± 0.5 (mas) yr^(-1). Hence, the degeneracy can be resolved within ~ 10 years from direct-lens imaging by using next-generation instruments with high spatial resolution.

Models of the η Corvi Debris Disk from the Keck Interferometer, Spitzer, and Herschel

Debris disks are signposts of analogs to small-body populations of the solar system, often, however, with much higher masses and dust production rates. The disk associated with the nearby star η Crv is especially striking, as it shows strong mid- and far-infrared excesses despite an age of ~1.4 Gyr. We undertake constructing a consistent model of the system that can explain a diverse collection of spatial and spectral data. We analyze Keck Interferometer Nuller measurements and revisit Spitzer and additional spectrophotometric data, as well as resolved Herschel images, to determine the dust spatial distribution in the inner exozodi and in the outer belt. We model in detail the two-component disk and the dust properties from the sub-AU scale to the outermost regions by fitting simultaneously all measurements against a large parameter space. The properties of the cold belt are consistent with a collisional cascade in a reservoir of ice-free planetesimals at 133 AU. It shows marginal evidence for asymmetries along the major axis. KIN enables us to establish that the warm dust consists of a ring that peaks between 0.2 and 0.8 AU. To reconcile this location with the ~400 K dust temperature, very high albedo dust must be invoked, and a distribution of forsterite grains starting from micron sizes satisfies this criterion, while providing an excellent fit to the spectrum. We discuss additional constraints from the LBTI and near-infrared spectra, and we present predictions of what James Webb Space Telescope can unveil about this unusual object and whether it can detect unseen planets.

An Isolated Microlens Observed from K2, Spitzer, and Earth

We present the result of microlensing event MOA-2016-BLG-290, which received observations from the two-wheel Kepler (K2), Spitzer, as well as ground-based observatories. A joint analysis of data from K2 and the ground leads to two degenerate solutions of the lens mass and distance. This degeneracy is effectively broken once the (partial) Spitzer light curve is included. Altogether, the lens is found to be an extremely low-mass star or brown dwarf (77^(+34)_(-23) M_J) located in the Galactic bulge (6.8 ± 0.4 kpc). MOA-2016-BLG-290 is the first microlensing event for which we have signals from three well-separated (~1 au) locations. It demonstrates the power of two-satellite microlensing experiment in reducing the ambiguity of lens properties, as pointed out independently by S. Refsdal and A. Gould several decades ago.

UKIRT Microlensing Surveys as a Pathfinder for WFIRST: The Detection of Five Highly Extinguished Low-|b| Events

Optical microlensing surveys are restricted from detecting events near the Galactic plane and center, where the event rate is thought to be the highest, due to the high optical extinction of these fields. In the near-infrared (NIR), however, the lower extinction leads to a corresponding increase in event detections and is a primary driver for the wavelength coverage of the

OGLE-2017-BLG-1130: The First Binary Gravitational Microlens Detected From Spitzer Only

WFIRST

Spitzer Opens New Path to Break Classic Degeneracy for Jupiter-mass Microlensing Planet OGLE-2017-BLG-1140Lb

microlensing survey. During the 2015 and 2016 bulge observing seasons we conducted NIR microlensing surveys with UKIRT in conjunction with and in support of the

ISOPHOT 170 μm Serendipity Sky Survey: The First Galaxy Catalogue

Spitzer