Search for: All records

ABSTRACT Spatially resolved images of debris discs are necessary to determine disc morphological properties and the scattering phase function (SPF) thatantifies the brightness of scattered light as a function of phase angle. Current high-contrast imaging instruments have successfully resolved several dozens of debris discs around other stars, but few studies have investigated trends in the scattered-light, resolved population of debris discs in a uniform and consistent manner. We have combined Karhunen-Loeve Image Projection (KLIP) with radiative-transfer disc forward modelling in order to obtain the highest-quality image reductions and constrain disc morphological properties of eight debris discs imaged by the Gemini Planet Imager at H-band with a consistent and uniformly applied approach. In describing the scattering properties of our models, we assume a common SPF informed from solar system dust scattering measurements and apply it to all systems. We identify a diverse range of dust density properties among the sample, including critical radius, radial width, and vertical width. We also identify radially narrow and vertically extended discs that may have resulted from substellar companion perturbations, along with a tentative positive trend in disc eccentricity with relative disc width. We also find that using a common SPF can achieve reasonable model fits for discs that are axisymmetric and asymmetric when fitting models to each side of the disc independently, suggesting that scattering behaviour from debris discs may be similar to Solar system dust. 

Context. A low-mass companion potentially in the brown dwarf mass regime was discovered on a ~12 yr orbit (~5.5 au) around HD 167665 using radial velocity (RV) monitoring. Joint RV–astrometry analyses confirmed that HD 167665B is a brown dwarf with precisions on the measured mass of ~4–9%. Brown dwarf companions with measured mass and luminosity are valuable for testing formation and evolutionary models. However, its atmospheric properties and luminosity are still unconstrained, preventing detailed tests of evolutionary models. Aims. We further characterize the HD 167665 system by measuring the luminosity and refining the mass of its companion and reassessing the stellar age. Methods. We present new high-contrast imaging data of the star and of its close-in environment from SPHERE and GRAVITY, which we combined with RV data from CORALIE and HIRES and astrometry from HIPPARCOSandGaia. Results. The analysis of the host star properties indicates an age of 6.20 ± 1.13 Gyr. GRAVITY reveals a point source near the position predicted from a joint fit of RV data and HIPPARCOS–Gaiaproper motion anomalies. Subsequent SPHERE imaging confirms the detection and reveals a faint point source of contrast of ∆H2= 10.95 ± 0.33 mag at a projected angular separation of ~180 mas. A joint fit of the high-contrast imaging, RV, and HIPPARCOSintermediate astrometric data together with theGaiaastrometric parameters constrains the mass of HD 167665B to ~1.2%, 60.3 ± 0.7M_J. The SPHERE colors and spectrum point to an early or mid-T brown dwarf of spectral type T4₋₂⁺¹. Fitting the SPHERE spectrophotometry and GRAVITY spectrum with synthetic spectra suggests an effective temperature of ~1000–1150 K, a surface gravity of ~5.0–5.4 dex, and a bolometric luminosity log(L/L_⊙)=−4.892_−0.028^+0.024dex. The mass, luminosity, and age of the companion can only be reproduced within 3σby the hybrid cloudy evolutionary models of Saumon & Marley (2008, ApJ, 689, 1327), whereas cloudless evolutionary models underpredict its luminosity. 

Context. Young giant planets and brown dwarf companions emit near-infrared radiation that can be linearly polarized up to several percent. This polarization can reveal the presence of an (unresolved) circumsubstellar accretion disk, rotation-induced oblateness of the atmosphere, or an inhomogeneous distribution of atmospheric dust clouds. Aims. We aim to measure the near-infrared linear polarization of 20 known directly imaged exoplanets and brown dwarf companions. Methods. We observed the companions with the high-contrast imaging polarimeter SPHERE-IRDIS at the Very Large Telescope. We reduced the data using the IRDAP pipeline to correct for the instrumental polarization and crosstalk of the optical system with an absolute polarimetric accuracy <0.1% in the degree of polarization. We employed aperture photometry, angular differential imaging, and point-spread-function fitting to retrieve the polarization of the companions. Results. We report the first detection of polarization originating from substellar companions, with a polarization of several tenths of a percent for DH Tau B and GSC 6214-210 B in H -band. By comparing the measured polarization with that of nearby stars, we find that the polarization is unlikely to be caused by interstellar dust. Because the companions have previously measured hydrogen emission lines and red colors, the polarization most likely originates from circumsubstellar disks. Through radiative transfer modeling, we constrain the position angles of the disks and find that the disks must have high inclinations. For the 18 other companions, we do not detect significant polarization and place subpercent upper limits on their degree of polarization. We also present images of the circumstellar disks of DH Tau, GQ Lup, PDS 70, β Pic, and HD 106906. We detect a highly asymmetric disk around GQ Lup and find evidence for multiple scattering in the disk of PDS 70. Both disks show spiral-like features that are potentially induced by GQ Lup B and PDS 70 b, respectively. Conclusions. The presence of the disks around DH Tau B and GSC 6214-210 B as well as the misalignment of the disk of DH Tau B with the disk around its primary star suggest in situ formation of the companions. The non-detections of polarization for the other companions may indicate the absence of circumsubstellar disks, a slow rotation rate of young companions, the upper atmospheres containing primarily submicron-sized dust grains, and/or limited cloud inhomogeneity. 

Context.Since 2019, GRAVITY has provided direct observations of giant planets and brown dwarfs at separations of down to 95 mas from the host star. Some of these observations have provided the first direct confirmation of companions previously detected by indirect techniques (astrometry and radial velocities). Aims.We want to improve the observing strategy and data reduction in order to lower the inner working angle of GRAVITY in dual-field on-axis mode. We also want to determine the current limitations of the instrument when observing faint companions with separations in the 30–150 mas range. Methods.To improve the inner working angle, we propose a fiber off-pointing strategy during the observations to maximize the ratio of companion-light-to-star-light coupling in the science fiber. We also tested a lower-order model for speckles to decouple the companion light from the star light. We then evaluated the detection limits of GRAVITY using planet injection and retrieval in representative archival data. We compare our results to theoretical expectations. Results.We validate our observing and data-reduction strategy with on-sky observations; first in the context of brown dwarf follow-up on the auxiliary telescopes with HD 984 B, and second with the first confirmation of a substellar candidate around the starGaiaDR3 2728129004119806464. With synthetic companion injection, we demonstrate that the instrument can detect companions down to a contrast of 8 × 10⁻⁴(ΔΚ= 7.7 mag) at a separation of 35 mas, and a contrast of 3 × 10⁻⁵(ΔΚ= 11 mag) at 100 mas from a bright primary (K< 6.5), for 30 min exposure time. Conclusions.With its inner working angle and astrometric precision, GRAVITY has a unique reach in direct observation parameter space. This study demonstrates the promising synergies between GRAVITY andGaiafor the confirmation and characterization of substellar companions. 

Aims. HD 206893 is a nearby debris disk star that hosts a previously identified brown dwarf companion with an orbital separation of ∼10 au. Long-term precise radial velocity (RV) monitoring, as well as anomalies in the system proper motion, has suggested the presence of an additional, inner companion in the system. Methods. Using information from ongoing precision RV measurements with the HARPS spectrograph, as well as Gaia host star astrometry, we have undertaken a multi-epoch search for the purported additional planet using the VLTI/GRAVITY instrument. Results. We report a high-significance detection over three epochs of the companion HD 206893c, which shows clear evidence for Keplerian orbital motion. Our astrometry with ∼50−100 μarcsec precision afforded by GRAVITY allows us to derive a dynamical mass of 12.7$$ ^{+1.2}_{-1.0} $$ M Jup and an orbital separation of 3.53$$ ^{+0.08}_{-0.06} $$ au for HD 206893c. Our fits to the orbits of both companions in the system use both Gaia astrometry and RVs to also provide a precise dynamical estimate of the previously uncertain mass of the B component, and therefore allow us to derive an age of 155 ± 15 Myr for the system. We find that theoretical atmospheric and evolutionary models that incorporate deuterium burning for HD 206893c, parameterized by cloudy atmosphere models as well as a “hybrid sequence” (encompassing a transition from cloudy to cloud-free), provide a good simultaneous fit to the luminosity of both HD 206893B and c. Thus, accounting for both deuterium burning and clouds is crucial to understanding the luminosity evolution of HD 206893c. Conclusions. In addition to using long-term RV information, this effort is an early example of a direct imaging discovery of a bona fide exoplanet that was guided in part by Gaia astrometry. Utilizing Gaia astrometry is expected to be one of the primary techniques going forward for identifying and characterizing additional directly imaged planets. In addition, HD 206893c is an example of an object narrowly straddling the deuterium-burning limit but unambiguously undergoing deuterium burning. Additional discoveries like this may therefore help clarify the discrimination between a brown dwarf and an extrasolar planet. Lastly, this discovery is another example of the power of optical interferometry to directly detect and characterize extrasolar planets where they form, at ice-line orbital separations of 2−4 au.