Supermassive Planets or Ultralight Brown Dwarfs? A New Population of Wide Substellar Companions

Physics – Optics

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

Numerous radial velocity and direct imaging studies have noted a deficit of brown dwarf companions to (solar-type) stars at a range of orbital separations. Yet recent observations have revealed a number of substellar companions in wide orbits. We are now completing a systematic, high-contrast adaptive optics (AO) imaging search with sensitivity well into the planetary regime at large separations, targeting over 200 nearby young stars, most of which have never been observed with AO before. Here we will present the survey highlights, including the discovery, proper motion confirmation, and spectroscopic characterization of several substellar companions with mass ratios as low as 0.01 and in orbits as wide as 300-900 AU. These objects may represent the bottom end of the stellar companion mass function or the top end of the planet population, though both scenarios pose challenges to conventional formation models.

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