Emily L. Rice

Discovery and spectroscopy of the young jovian planet 51 Eri b with the Gemini Planet Imager

An exoplanet extracted from the bright Direct imaging of Jupiter-like exoplanets around young stars provides a glimpse into how our solar system formed. The brightness of young stars requires the use of next-generation devices such as the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). Using the GPI, Macintosh et al. discovered a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a young star, 51 Eridani (see the Perspective by Mawet). The planet, 51 Eri b, has a methane signature and is probably the smallest exoplanet that has been directly imaged. These findings open the door to understanding solar system origins and herald the dawn of a new era in next-generation planetary imaging. Science, this issue p. 64; see also p. 39 The Gemini Planet Imager detects a Jupiter-like exoplanet orbiting the young star 51 Eridani. [Also see Perspective by Mawet] Directly detecting thermal emission from young extrasolar planets allows measurement of their atmospheric compositions and luminosities, which are influenced by their formation mechanisms. Using the Gemini Planet Imager, we discovered a planet orbiting the ~20-million-year-old star 51 Eridani at a projected separation of 13 astronomical units. Near-infrared observations show a spectrum with strong methane and water-vapor absorption. Modeling of the spectra and photometry yields a luminosity (normalized by the luminosity of the Sun) of 1.6 to 4.0 × 10−6 and an effective temperature of 600 to 750 kelvin. For this age and luminosity, “hot-start” formation models indicate a mass twice that of Jupiter. This planet also has a sufficiently low luminosity to be consistent with the “cold-start” core-accretion process that may have formed Jupiter.

High-precision dynamical masses of very low mass binaries

We present the results of a three year monitoring program of a sample of very low mass (VLM) field binaries using both astrometric and spectroscopic data obtained in conjunction with the laser guide star adaptive optics system on the W. M. Keck II 10 m telescope. Among the 24 systems studied, 15 have undergone sufficient orbital motion, allowing us to derive their relative orbital parameters and hence their total system mass. These measurements more than double the number of mass measurements for VLM objects, and include the most precise mass measurement to date (<2%). Among the 11 systems with both astrometric and spectroscopic measurements, six have sufficient radial velocity variations to allow us to obtain individual component masses. This is the first derivation of the component masses for five of these systems. Altogether, the orbital solutions of these low mass systems show a correlation between eccentricity and orbital period, consistent with their higher mass counterparts. In our primary analysis, we find that there are systematic discrepancies between our dynamical mass measurements and the predictions of theoretical evolutionary models (TUCSON and LYON) with both models either underpredicting or overpredicting the most precisely determined dynamical masses. These discrepancies are a function of spectral type, with late-M through mid-L systems tending to have their masses underpredicted, while one T-type system has its mass overpredicted. These discrepancies imply that either the temperatures predicted by evolutionary and atmosphere models are inconsistent for an object of a given mass, or the mass-radius relationship or cooling timescales predicted by the evolutionary models are incorrect. If these spectral-type trends are correct and hold into the planetary mass regime, the implication is that the masses of directly imaged extrasolar planets are overpredicted by the evolutionary models.

Reconnaissance of the HR 8799 Exosolar System. I. Near-infrared Spectroscopy

We obtained spectra in the wavelength range λ = 995-1769 nm of all four known planets orbiting the star HR 8799. Using the suite of instrumentation known as Project 1640 on the Palomar 5 m Hale Telescope, we acquired data at two epochs. This allowed for multiple imaging detections of the companions and multiple extractions of low-resolution (R ~ 35) spectra. Data reduction employed two different methods of speckle suppression and spectrum extraction, both yielding results that agree. The spectra do not directly correspond to those of any known objects, although similarities with L and T dwarfs are present, as well as some characteristics similar to planets such as Saturn. We tentatively identify the presence of CH_4 along with NH_3 and/or C_2H_2, and possibly CO_2 or HCN in varying amounts in each component of the system. Other studies suggested red colors for these faint companions, and our data confirm those observations. Cloudy models, based on previous photometric observations, may provide the best explanation for the new data presented here. Notable in our data is that these presumably co-eval objects of similar luminosity have significantly different spectra; the diversity of planets may be greater than previously thought. The techniques and methods employed in this paper represent a new capability to observe and rapidly characterize exoplanetary systems in a routine manner over a broad range of planet masses and separations. These are the first simultaneous spectroscopic observations of multiple planets in a planetary system other than our own.

Discovery of two nearby peculiar L dwarfs from the 2MASS proper-motion survey: young or metal-rich?

We present the discovery of two nearby L dwarfs from our 2MASS proper-motion search, which uses multiepoch 2MASS observations covering ~4700 deg^2 of sky. 2MASS J18212815+1414010 and 2MASS J21481628+4003593 were overlooked by earlier surveys due to their faint optical magnitudes and their proximity to the Galactic plane (10° ≤ | b | ≤ 15°). Assuming that both dwarfs are single, we derive spectrophotometric distances of ~10 pc, thus increasing the number of known L dwarfs within 10 pc to 10. In the near-infrared, 2MASS J21481628+4003593 shows a triangular H-band spectrum, strong CO absorption, and a markedly red J − K_s color (2.38 ± 0.06) for its L6 optical spectral type. 2MASS J18212815+1414010 also shows a triangular H-band spectrum and a slightly red J − K_s color (1.78 ± 0.05) for its L4.5 optical spectral type. Both objects show strong silicate absorption at 9-11 μm. Cumulatively, these features imply an unusually dusty photosphere for both of these objects. We examine several scenarios to explain the underlying cause for their enhanced dust content and find that a metal-rich atmosphere or a low surface gravity are consistent with these results. 2MASS J18212815+1414010 may be young (and therefore have a low surface gravity) based on its low tangential velocity of 10 km s^−1. On the other hand, 2MASS J21481628+4003593 has a high tangential velocity of 62 km s^−1 and is therefore likely old. Hence, high metallicity and low surface gravity may lead to similar effects.

2MASS J035523.37+113343.7: A YOUNG, DUSTY, NEARBY, ISOLATED BROWN DWARF RESEMBLING A GIANT EXOPLANET

We present parallax and proper motion measurements, near-infrared spectra, and WISE photometry for the low surface gravity L5γ dwarf 2MASSJ035523.37+113343.7 (2M0355). We use these data to evaluate photometric, spectral, and kinematic signatures of youth as 2M0355 is the reddest isolated L dwarf yet classified. We confirm its low-gravity spectral morphology and find a strong resemblance to the sharp triangular shaped H-band spectrum of the ∼10 Myr planetary-mass object 2M1207b. We find that 2M0355 is underluminous compared to a normal field L5 dwarf in the optical and MKO J, H, and K bands and transitions to being overluminous from 3-12 μm, indicating that enhanced photospheric dust shifts flux to longer wavelengths for young, low-gravity objects, creating a red spectral energy distribution. Investigating the near-infrared color magnitude diagram for brown dwarfs confirms that 2M0355 is redder and underluminous compared to the known brown dwarf population, similar to the peculiarities of directly imaged exoplanets 2M1207b and HR8799bcd. We calculate UVW space velocities and find that the motion of 2M0355 is consistent with young disk objects (< 2-3 Gyr) and it shows a high likelihood of membership in the AB Doradus association.

FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS AND SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS OF YOUNG AND FIELD AGE OBJECTS WITH MASSES SPANNING THE STELLAR TO PLANETARY REGIME

We combine optical, near-infrared and mid-infrared spectra and photometry to construct expanded spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for 145 field age (\textgreater 500 Myr) and 53 young (lower age estimate \textless 500 Myr) ultracool dwarfs (M6-T9). This range of spectral types includes very low mass stars, brown dwarfs, and planetary mass objects, providing fundamental parameters across both the hydrogen and deuterium burning minimum masses for the largest sample assembled to date. A subsample of 29 objects have well constrained ages as probable members of a nearby young moving group (NYMG). We use 182 parallaxes and 16 kinematic distances to determine precise bolometric luminosities (

THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXXIII. PARALLAX RESULTS FROM THE CTIOPI 0.9 m PROGRAM: TRIGONOMETRIC PARALLAXES OF NEARBY LOW-MASS ACTIVE AND YOUNG SYSTEMS

L_\text{bol}

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF YOUNG BROWN DWARFS AND VERY LOW MASS STARS INFERRED FROM HIGH-RESOLUTION MODEL SPECTRA

) and radius estimates from evolutionary models give semi-empirical effective temperatures (

RECONNAISSANCE OF THE HR 8799 EXOSOLAR SYSTEM. II. ASTROMETRY AND ORBITAL MOTION

T_\text{eff}

The NIRSPEC Brown Dwarf Spectroscopic Survey. II. High-Resolution J-Band Spectra of M, L, and T Dwarfs

) for the full range of young and field age late-M, L and T dwarfs. We construct age-sensitive relationships of luminosity, temperature and absolute magnitude as functions of spectral type and absolute magnitude to disentangle the effects of degenerate physical parameters such as