ASPCS
 
Back to Volume
Paper: Constraining the Evolution of Brown Dwarf Binarity as a Function of Age: A Keck LGS AO Search for Brown Dwarf and Planetary Mass Companions to Upper Scorpius Brown Dwarfs
Volume: 448, 16th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun
Page: 31
Authors: Biller, B.; Allers, K.; Liu, M.; Close, L. M.; Dupuy, T.
Abstract: We searched for binary companions to 20 brown dwarfs in Upper Scorpius (145 pc, 5 Myr, nearest OB association) with the facility infrared camera NIRC2 and the Laser Guide Star adaptive optics system on the 10 m Keck II telescope. We discovered a close companion (0.14″, 20.9±0.4 AU) to the very low mass object SCH J16091837-20073523. From spectral deconvolution of integrated-light near-IR spectroscopy of SCH1609 using the SpeX spectrograph (Rayner et al. 2003), we estimate primary and secondary spectral types of M6±0.5 and M7±1.0, corresponding to masses of 79±17 MJup and 55±25 MJup at an age of 5 Myr and masses of 84±15 MJup and 60±25 MJup at an age of 10 Myr. For our survey objects with spectral types later than M8, we find an upper limit on the binary fraction of <9% (1-σ) at separations greater than 10 AU. We combine the results of our survey with previous surveys of Upper Sco and similar young regions to set the strongest constraints to date on binary fraction for young substellar objects and very low mass stars. The binary fraction for low mass (<40 MJup) brown dwarfs in Upper Sco is similar to that for T dwarfs in the field; for higher mass brown dwarfs and very low mass stars, there is an excess of medium-separation (10-50 AU projected separation) young binaries with respect to the field. These medium separation binaries will likely survive to late ages.
Back to Volume