Candidate free-floating super-Jupiters in the young sigma Orionis open cluster
G. Bihain, R. Rebolo, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, V. J. S. Béjar, I. Villó-Pérez, A. Díaz-Sánchez, A. Pérez-Garrido, J. A. Caballero, C. A. L. Bailer-Jones, D. Barra… 展开作者
G. Bihain, R. Rebolo, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, V. J. S. Béjar, I. Villó-Pérez, A. Díaz-Sánchez, A. Pérez-Garrido, J. A. Caballero, C. A. L. Bailer-Jones, D. Barrado y Navascués, J. Eislöffel, T. Forveille, B. Goldman, T. Henning, E. L. Martín, R. Mundt
备注：
15 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables, and appendix containing 5 figures; accepted for publication in AA; v2: 2 minor corrections, in abstract and sect. 2.2
Free-floating substellar candidates with estimated theoretical masses of as low as ~5 Jupiter masses have been found in the ~3 Myr old sigma Orionis open cluster. As the overlap with the planetary mass domain increases, the question of how these objects form becomes important. The determination of their number density and whether a mass cut-off limit exists is crucial to understanding their formation. We propose to search for objects of yet lower masses in the cluster and determine the shape of the mass function at low mass. Using new- and (re-analysed) published IZJHKs[3.6]-[8.0]-band data of an area of 840 arcmin2, we performed a search for LT-type cluster member candidates in the magnitude range J=19.5-21.5 mag, based on their expected magnitudes and colours. Besides recovering the T type object S Ori 70 and two other known objects, we find three new cluster member candidates, S Ori 72-74, with J=21 mag and within 12 arcmin of the cluster centre. They have theoretical masses of 4 (-2,+3) M_Jup and are among the least massive free-floating objects detected by direct imaging outside the Solar System. The photometry in archival Spitzer [3.6]-[5.8]-band images infers that S Ori 72 is an L/T transition candidate and S Ori 73 a T-type candidate, following the expected cluster sequence in the mid-infrared. Finally, the L-type candidate S Ori 74 with lower quality photometry is located at 11.8 arcsec (~4250 AU) of a stellar member of sigma Orionis and could be a companion. After contaminant correction in the area complete to J=21.1 mag, we estimate that there remain between zero and two cluster members in the mass interval 6-4 M_Jup. Our result suggests a possible turnover in the substellar mass spectrum below ~6 Jupiter masses, which could be investigated further by wider and deeper photometric surveys.
With the new Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution, I derive a new parallactic distance to the young sigma Orionis open cluster, which is a cornerstone region for studying the formation and evolution of stars and substellar objects from tens of solar masses to a few Jupiter masses. I started with the list of the 46 brightest cluster stars of Caballero (2007). After identifying the 24 TGAS stars in the 30 arcmin-radius survey area and accounting for 11 FGKM-type dwarfs and giants in the fore- and background, I got a list of 13 cluster members and candidates with new parallaxes. Of them, I discarded f…
Using the CFBDSIR wide field survey for brown dwarfs, we identified CFBDSIRJ214947.2-040308.9, a late T dwarf with atypically red J-Ks colour. We obtained an X-Shooter spectra, with signal detectable from 0.8 to 2.3 micron, which confirmed a T7 spectral type with an enhanced Ks-band flux indicative of a potentially low-gravity, young, object. The comparison of our near infrared spectrum with atmosphere models, for solar metallicity, shows that CFBDSIRJ214947.2-040308.9 is probably a 650-750 K, log g=3.75-4.0 substellar object. Using evolution models, this translates into a planetary mass objec…
This White Paper describes the opportunities for discovery of Jupiter-mass objects with 300K atmospheres. The discovery and characterization of such cold objects is vital for understanding the low-mass terminus of the initial mass function and for optimizing the study of exoplanets by the next generation of large telescopes, space probes and space missions.
(Abridged) We aim to: i) confirm the presence of methane absorption in S Ori 73 (a T-type member candidate of the sig Orionis cluster, 3 Myr, 352 pc) through methane imaging; ii) study S Ori 70 and 73 cluster membership via photometric colors and accurate proper motion analysis; iii) perform a new search to identify additional T-type sig Orionis member candidates with likely masses below 7 Mjup. We obtained HAWK-I (VLT) J, H, and CH4off photometry of an area of 119.15 sq. arcmin in sig Orionis down to Jcomp = 21.7 and Hcomp = 21 mag. Near-infrared data were complemented with optical photometry…
The event rate and the efficiency of mass estimation for free-floating planet (FFP) microlensing events were determined from the simulation of the simultaneous parallax observations by Euclid, WFIRST, and LSST. The stellar population from the Besançon Galactic model toward $(l, b)=(1^{\circ},-1.^{\circ}75)$ was applied to our 3D microlensing model, and 30,000 parallax observations were simulated for each following FFP lens masses: Jupiter-mass, Neptune-mass, and Earth-mass assuming the population of one FFP per star. The interstellar dust, unresolved stellar background, nearby star blending we…
We show that the coolest known object that is probably formed in a star-like mode is a free-floating planet. We discovered recently that the free-floating planetary mass object OTS,44 (M9.5, ~12 Jupiter masses, age ~2 Myr) has significant accretion and a substantial disk. This demonstrates that the processes that characterize the canonical star-like mode of formation apply to isolated objects down to a few Jupiter masses. We detected in VLT/SINFONI spectra that OTS44 has strong, broad, and variable Paschen beta emission. This is the first evidence for active accretion of a free-floating planet…
(Abridged) A total of three T type candidates (SOri70, SOri73, and SOriJ0538-0213) lying in the line of sight towards Sigma Orionis were characterized by means of near-infrared photometric, astrometric, and spectroscopic studies. H-band methane images were collected for all three sources and an additional sample of 15 field T type dwarfs using LIRIS/WHT. J-band spectra of resolution of ~500 were obtained for SOriJ0538-0213 with ISAAC/VLT, and JH spectra of resolution of ~50 acquired with WFC3/HST were employed for the spectroscopic classification of SOri70 and 73. Proper motions with a typical…
The number of low-mass brown dwarfs and even free floating planetary mass objects in young nearby star-forming regions and associations is continuously increasing, offering the possibility to study the low-mass end of the IMF in greater detail. In this paper, we present six new candidates for (very) low-mass objects in the Taurus star-forming region one of which was recently discovered in parallel by Luhman et al. (2009). The underlying data we use is part of a new database from a deep near-infrared survey at the Calar Alto observatory. The survey is more than four magnitudes deeper than the 2…
Disc fragmentation. II. Ejection of low mass Free Floating Planets from growing binary systems
University of Leicester（莱斯特大学）；IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, CNES（法国图卢兹大学/国家科学研究中心/保罗·萨巴蒂尔大学）；University of Warwick（华威大学）；University of Zurich（苏黎世大学）
"Free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar objects" are isolated bodies of a few Jupiter masses found in very young open clusters and associations, nearby young moving groups and in the immediate vicinity of the Sun. They are neither brown dwarfs nor planets. I look over their nomenclature, history of discovery, sites of detection, formation mechanisms and future directions of research. Most free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar objects share the same formation mechanism as low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, but there are still a few caveats, such as the value of the opacity ma…
A free-floating-planet microlensing event caused by a Saturn-mass object
Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University（北京大学物理学院天文学系）；Kavli Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University（北京大学科维理天文与天体物理研究所）；Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute（韩国天文与空间科学研究所）；Astronomical Observatory University of Warsaw（华沙大学天文台）；Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science（魏茨曼科学研究所粒子物理与天体物理系）；Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学天文研究所）；Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva（日内瓦大学天文学系）；Division of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Lund University（隆德大学物理系天体物理分部）；Institute for Advanced Study in Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理学高等研究院）；Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理学院天体物理研究所）；Department of Astronomy, Tsinghua University（清华大学天文学系）；Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）
Measurement of the substellar initial mass function (IMF) in very young clusters is hampered by the possibility of the age spread of cluster members. This is particularly serious for candidate planetary mass objects (PMOs), which have a very similar location to older and more massive brown dwarfs on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD). This degeneracy can be lifted by the measurement of gravity-sensitive spectral features. To this end we have obtained medium resolution (R~5000) Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS) K band spectra of a sample of late M- / early L-type dwarfs. The s…
Brown dwarfs are essential targets for understanding planetary and sub-stellar atmospheres across a wide range of thermal and chemical conditions. As surveys continue to probe ever deeper, and as observing capabilities continue to improve, the number of known Y dwarfs -- the coldest class of sub-stellar objects, with effective temperatures below about 600 K -- is rapidly growing. Critically, this class of ultra-cool objects has atmospheric conditions that overlap with Solar System worlds and, as a result, tools and ideas developed from studying Earth, Jupiter, Saturn and other nearby worlds ar…
We report on a deep photometric survey covering an area of 1.17 deg$^2$ in the young Upper Scorpius stellar association using VIMOS $Iz$ and UKIDSS $ZJHK$ data taking several years apart. The search for the least massive population of Upper Scorpius ($\sim$5-10 Myr, 145 pc) is performed on the basis of various optical and infrared color-color and color-magnitude diagrams, including WISE photometry, in the magnitude interval $J$=14.5-19 mag (completeness), which corresponds to substellar masses from 0.028 through 0.004 M$_\odot$ at the age and distance of Upper Scorpius. We also present the pro…
The impact of the free-floating planet (FFP) mass function on the event rate for the accurate microlensing parallax determination: application to Euclid and Roman parallax observation
We aim at identifying very low-mass isolated planetary-mass member candidates in the nearest OB association to the Sun, Upper Scorpius (145 pc; 5-10 Myr), to constrain the form and shape of the luminosity function and mass spectrum in this regime. We conducted a deep multi-band ($Y$=21.2, $J$=20.5, $Z$=22.0 mag) photometric survey of six square degrees in the central region of Upper Scorpius. We extend the current sequence of astrometric and spectroscopic members by about two magnitudes in $Y$ and one magnitude in $J$, reaching potentially T-type free-floating members in the association with p…
Within the SONYC - Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters - survey, we investigate the frequency of free-floating planetary-mass objects (planemos) in the young cluster NGC1333. Building upon our extensive previous work, we present spectra for 12 of the faintest candidates from our deep multi-band imaging, plus seven random objects in the same fields, using MOIRCS on Subaru. We confirm seven new sources as young very low mass objects (VLMOs), with Teff of 2400-3100K and mid-M to early-L spectral types. These objects add to the growing census of VLMOs in NGC1333, now totaling 58. Three con…
We report the results of the first deep, wide-field, near-infrared methane imaging survey of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud core to search for T dwarfs. Among the 6587 objects detected, 22 were identified as T dwarf candidates. Brown dwarf models indicate that at the age and distance of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud, these T dwarf candidates have masses between 1 and 2 Jupiter masses. If confirmed as genuine T dwarfs, these objects would be the youngest, lowest mass, and lowest gravity free-floating objects ever directly observed. The existence of these candidates suggests that the initial mass function of t…
The origin of the lowest mass free-floating objects -- brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects -- is one of the major unsolved problems in star formation. Establishing a census of young substellar objects is a fundamental prerequisite for distinguishing between competing theoretical scenarios. Such a census allows us to probe the initial mass function (IMF), binary statistics, and properties of accretion disks. Our SONYC (Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters) survey relies on extremely deep wide-field optical and near-infrared imaging, with follow-up spectroscopy, in combination with Sp…
A search for young substellar objects in the rho Oph cloud core region has been made using the deep-integration Combined Calibration Scan images of the 2MASS extended mission in J, H and Ks bands, and Spitzer IRAC images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 microns. The field of view of the combined observations was 1 deg x 9.3 arcmin, and the 5 sigma limiting magnitude at J was 20.5. Comparison of the observed SEDs with the predictions of the COND and DUSTY models, for an assumed age of 1 Myr, supports the identification of many of the sources with brown dwarfs, and enables the estimation of effective te…
Small molecular cloudlets are abundant in many H II regions surrounding newborn stellar clusters. In optical images these so-called globulettes appear as dark silhouettes against the bright nebular background. We have located close to 300 globulettes in the Carina Nebula. The objects appear as well-confined dense clumps and, as a rule, lack thinner envelopes, bright rims, and tails. Some globulettes are slightly elongated with their major axes oriented in the direction of young clusters in the complex. Many objects are quite isolated and reside at projected distances >1.5 pc from other molecul…
We exploit the ability of the Hubble Space Telescope to probe near infrared water absorption present in the atmosphere of low-mass stars, brown dwarfs and planetary mass objects to create a very pure sample of Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) members, not affected by contamination from background stars and galaxies which lack water absorption. Thanks to these data we infer the Initial Mass Function (IMF) of the ONC in the $0.005 - 1.4$M$_{\odot}$ regime, i.e. down to few Jupiter masses. The young age of the ONC, $\sim1$ Myr, provides a snapshot of the outcome of star formation for the present-day co…
