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1. The POKEMON Speckle Survey of Nearby M Dwarfs. I. New Discoveries

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac739c  

   Clark, Catherine A. ; van Belle, Gerard T. ; Horch, Elliott P. ; von Braun, Kaspar ; Ciardi, David R. ; Winters, Jennifer G. ; Kiman, Rocio ( July 2022 , The Astronomical Journal)

   M dwarfs are favorable targets for exoplanet detection with current instrumentation, but stellar companions can induce false positives and inhibit planet characterization. Knowledge of stellar companions is also critical to our understanding of how binary stars form and evolve. We have therefore conducted a survey of stellar companions around nearby M dwarfs, and here we present our new discoveries. Using the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument at the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope, and the similar NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet Stellar Speckle Imager at the 3.5 m WIYN telescope, we carried out a volume-limited survey of M-dwarf multiplicity to 15 parsecs, with a special emphasis on including the later M dwarfs that were overlooked in previous surveys. Additional brighter targets at larger distances were included for a total sample size of 1070 M dwarfs. Observations of these 1070 targets revealed 26 new companions; 22 of these systems were previously thought to be single. If all new discoveries are confirmed, then the number of known multiples in the sample will increase by 7.6%. Using our observed properties, as well as the parallaxes and 2MASSKmagnitudes for these objects, we calculate the projected separation, and estimate the mass ratio and component spectral types, for thesemore »systems. We report the discovery of a new M-dwarf companion to the white dwarf Wolf 672 A, which hosts a known M-dwarf companion as well, making the system trinary. We also examine the possibility that the new companion to 2MASS J13092185-2330350 is a brown dwarf. Finally, we discuss initial insights from the POKEMON survey.

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2. Unresolved stellar companions with Gaia DR2 astrometry

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1522  

   Belokurov, Vasily ; Penoyre, Zephyr ; Oh, Semyeong ; Iorio, Giuliano ; Hodgkin, Simon ; Evans, N Wyn ; Everall, Andrew ; Koposov, Sergey E ; Tout, Christopher A ; Izzard, Robert ; et al ( August 2020 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT For stars with unresolved companions, motions of the centre of light and that of mass decouple, causing a single-source astrometric model to perform poorly. We show that such stars can be easily detected with the reduced χ2 statistic, or renormalized unit weight error (RUWE), provided as part of Gaia DR2. We convert RUWE into the amplitude of the image centroid wobble, which, if scaled by the source distance, is proportional to the physical separation between companions (for periods up to several years). We test this idea on a sample of known spectroscopic binaries and demonstrate that the amplitude of the centroid perturbation scales with the binary period and the mass ratio as expected. We apply this technique to the Gaia DR2 data and show how the binary fraction evolves across the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. The observed incidence of unresolved companions is high for massive young stars and drops steadily with stellar mass, reaching its lowest levels for white dwarfs. We highlight the elevated binary fraction for the nearby blue stragglers and blue horizontal branch stars. We also illustrate how unresolved hierarchical triples inflate the relative velocity signal in wide binaries. Finally, we point out a hint of evidence for themore »existence of additional companions to the hosts of extrasolar hot Jupiters.« less
3. Pulsating hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs and pre-white dwarfs observed with TESS: III. Asteroseismology of the DBV star GD 358

   https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142153  

   Córsico, A. H. ; Uzundag, M. ; Kepler, S. O. ; Silvotti, R. ; Althaus, L. G. ; Koester, D. ; Baran, A. S. ; Bell, K. J. ; Bischoff-Kim, A. ; Hermes, J. J. ; et al ( March 2022 , Astronomy & Astrophysics)

   Context. The collection of high-quality photometric data by space telescopes, such as the completed Kepler mission and the ongoing TESS program, is revolutionizing the area of white-dwarf asteroseismology. Among the different kinds of pulsating white dwarfs, there are those that have He-rich atmospheres, and they are called DBVs or V777 Her variable stars. The archetype of these pulsating white dwarfs, GD 358, is the focus of the present paper. Aims. We report a thorough asteroseismological analysis of the DBV star GD 358 (TIC 219074038) based on new high-precision photometric data gathered by the TESS space mission combined with data taken from the Earth. Methods. We reduced TESS observations of the DBV star GD 358 and performed a detailed asteroseismological analysis using fully evolutionary DB white-dwarf models computed accounting for the complete prior evolution of their progenitors. We assessed the mass of this star by comparing the measured mean period separation with the theoretical averaged period spacings of the models, and we used the observed individual periods to look for a seismological stellar model. We detected potential frequency multiplets for GD 358, which we used to identify the harmonic degree ( ℓ ) of the pulsation modes and rotation period. Results.more »In total, we detected 26 periodicities from the TESS light curve of this DBV star using standard pre-whitening. The oscillation frequencies are associated with nonradial g (gravity)-mode pulsations with periods from ∼422 s to ∼1087 s. Moreover, we detected eight combination frequencies between ∼543 s and ∼295 s. We combined these data with a huge amount of observations from the ground. We found a constant period spacing of 39.25 ± 0.17 s, which helped us to infer its mass ( M ⋆  = 0.588 ± 0.024  M ⊙ ) and constrain the harmonic degree ℓ of the modes. We carried out a period-fit analysis on GD 358, and we were successful in finding an asteroseismological model with a stellar mass ( M ⋆ = 0.584 −0.019 +0.025   M ⊙ ), compatible with the stellar mass derived from the period spacing, and in line with the spectroscopic mass ( M ⋆  = 0.560 ± 0.028  M ⊙ ). In agreement with previous works, we found that the frequency splittings vary according to the radial order of the modes, suggesting differential rotation. Obtaining a seismological model made it possible to estimate the seismological distance ( d seis  = 42.85 ± 0.73 pc) of GD 358, which is in very good accordance with the precise astrometric distance measured by Gaia EDR3 ( π  = 23.244 ± 0.024,  d Gaia  = 43.02 ± 0.04 pc). Conclusions. The high-quality data measured with the TESS space telescope, used in combination with data taken from ground-based observatories, provides invaluable information for conducting asteroseismological studies of DBV stars, analogously to what happens with other types of pulsating white-dwarf stars. The currently operating TESS mission, together with the advent of other similar space missions and new stellar surveys, will give an unprecedented boost to white dwarf asteroseismology.« less
4. A Dearth of Close-in Stellar Companions to M-dwarf TESS Objects of Interest

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac6101  

   Clark, Catherine A. ; van Belle, Gerard T. ; Ciardi, David R. ; Lund, Michael B. ; Howell, Steve B. ; Everett, Mark E. ; Beichman, Charles A. ; Winters, Jennifer G. ( April 2022 , The Astronomical Journal)

   TESS has proven to be a powerful resource for finding planets, including those that orbit the most prevalent stars in our galaxy: M dwarfs. Identification of stellar companions (both bound and unbound) has become a standard component of the transiting planet confirmation process in order to assess the level of light-curve dilution and the possibility of the target being a false positive. Studies of stellar companions have also enabled investigations into stellar multiplicity in planet-hosting systems, which has wide-ranging implications for both exoplanet detection and characterization, as well as for the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Speckle and AO imaging are some of the most efficient and effective tools for revealing close-in stellar companions; we therefore present observations of 58 M-dwarf TOIs obtained using a suite of speckle imagers at the 3.5 m WIYN telescope, the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope, and the 8.1 m Gemini North and South telescopes. These observations, as well as near-infrared adaptive optics images obtained for a subset (14) of these TOIs, revealed only two close-in stellar companions. Upon surveying the literature, and cross-matching our sample with Gaia, SUPERWIDE, and the catalog from El-Badry et al., we reveal an additional 15 widely separatedmore »common proper motion companions. We also evaluate the potential for undetected close-in companions. Taking into consideration the sensitivity of the observations, our findings suggest that the orbital period distribution of stellar companions to planet-hosting M dwarfs is shifted to longer periods compared to the expected distribution for field M dwarfs.

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5. The close binary fraction as a function of stellar parameters in APOGEE: a strong anticorrelation with α abundances

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2859  

   Mazzola, Christine N ; Badenes, Carles ; Moe, Maxwell ; Koposov, Sergey E ; Kounkel, Marina ; Kratter, Kaitlin ; Covey, Kevin ; Walker, Matthew G ; Thompson, Todd A ; Andrews, Brett ; et al ( October 2020 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   null (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT We use observations from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey to explore the relationship between stellar parameters and multiplicity. We combine high-resolution repeat spectroscopy for 41 363 dwarf and subgiant stars with abundance measurements from the APOGEE pipeline and distances and stellar parameters derived using Gaia DR2 parallaxes from Sanders & Das to identify and characterize stellar multiples with periods below 30 yr, corresponding to ΔRVmax ≳ 3 km s−1, where ΔRVmax is the maximum APOGEE-detected shift in the radial velocities. Chemical composition is responsible for most of the variation in the close binary fraction in our sample, with stellar parameters like mass and age playing a secondary role. In addition to the previously identified strong anticorrelation between the close binary fraction and [Fe/H], we find that high abundances of α elements also suppress multiplicity at most values of [Fe/H] sampled by APOGEE. The anticorrelation between α abundances and multiplicity is substantially steeper than that observed for Fe, suggesting C, O, and Si in the form of dust and ices dominate the opacity of primordial protostellar discs and their propensity for fragmentation via gravitational stability. Near [Fe/H] = 0 dex, the bias-corrected close binary fraction (a < 10 au) decreases frommore »≈100 per cent at [α/H] = −0.2 dex to ≈15 per cent near [α/H] = 0.08 dex, with a suggestive turn-up to ≈20 per cent near [α/H] = 0.2. We conclude that the relationship between stellar multiplicity and chemical composition for sun-like dwarf stars in the field of the Milky Way is complex, and that this complexity should be accounted for in future studies of interacting binaries.« less