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Project 1640 Observations of Brown Dwarf GJ 758 B: Near-infrared Spectrum and Atmospheric Modeling

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Nilsson, R 
Veicht, A 
Godfrey, PA Giorla 
Rice, EL 
Aguilar, J 

Abstract

The nearby Sun-like star GJ 758 hosts a cold substellar companion, GJ 758 B, at a projected separation of $\lesssim30AU,previouslydetectedinhighcontrastmultibandphotometricobservations.Inordertobetterconstrainthecompanionsphysicalcharacteristics,weacquiredthefirstlowresolution(R \sim 50$) near-infrared spectrum of it using the high-contrast hyperspectral imaging instrument Project 1640 on Palomar Observatory's 5-m Hale telescope. We obtained simultaneous images in 32 wavelength channels covering the Y, J, and H bands ($\sim$952-1770 nm), and used data processing techniques based on principal component analysis to efficiently subtract chromatic background speckle-noise. GJ 758 B was detected in four epochs during 2013 and 2014. Basic astrometric measurements confirm its apparent northwest trajectory relative to the primary star, with no clear signs of orbital curvature. Spectra of SpeX/IRTF observed T dwarfs were compared to the combined spectrum of GJ 758 B, with χ2 minimization suggesting a best fit for spectral type T7.0$\pm$1.0, but with a shallow minimum over T5-T8. Fitting of synthetic spectra from the BT-Settl13 model atmospheres gives an effective temperature Teff=741±25 K and surface gravity logg=4.3±0.5 dex (cgs). Our derived best-fit spectral type and effective temperature from modeling of the low-resolution spectrum suggest a slightly earlier and hotter companion than previous findings from photometric data, but do not rule out current results, and confirm GJ 758 B as one of the coolest sub-stellar companions to a Sun-like star to date.

Description

Keywords

brown dwarfs, instrumentation: adaptive optics, instrumentation: spectrographs, planets and satellites: detection, stars: individual (GJ 758), techniques: high angular resolution

Journal Title

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0004-637X
1538-4357

Volume Title

838

Publisher

American Astronomical Society
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/N000927/1)