A companion to AB Pic at the planet/brown dwarf boundary

August 2005 • 2005A&A...438L..29C

Authors • Chauvin, G. • Lagrange, A. -M. • Zuckerman, B. • Dumas, C. • Mouillet, D. • Song, I. • Beuzit, J. -L. • Lowrance, P. • Bessell, M. S.

Abstract • We report deep imaging observations of the young, nearby star AB Pic, a member of the large Tucana-Horologium association. We have detected a faint, red source 5.5'' South of the star with JHK colors compatible with that of a young substellar L dwarf. Follow-up observations at two additional epochs confirm, with a confidence level of 4.7σ, that the faint red object is a companion to AB Pic rather than it being a stationary background object. A low resolution K-band spectrum indicates an early-L spectral type for the companion. Finally, evolutionary model predictions based on the JHK photometry of AB Pic b indicate a mass of 13 to 14 M_Jup if its age is ~30 Myr. Is AB Pic b a massive planet or a minimum mass brown dwarf?

Links

• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0504658
• POSTSCRIPT https://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200500111/postscript
• ELECTR http://www.aanda.org/htbin/resolve?bibcode=2005A%26A...438L..29CFUL
• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2005A%26A...438L..29C
• PDF https://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200500111/pdf
• DATA http://archive.eso.org/bin/ads2eso?2005A%26A...438L..29C
• DATA http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/DisplayOverview/nph-DisplayOverview?type=REFERENCE&bibcode=2005A%26A...438L..29C
• DATA https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/bibdata/2005/C/2005A&A...438L..29C.html
• SPIRES http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+eprint+astro-ph/0504658