An Infrared Coronagraphic Survey for Substellar Companions

P. Lowrance; E. E. Becklin; G. Schneider; D. Kirkpatrick; A. Weinberger; B. Zuckerman; C. Dumas; J. L. Beuzit; P. Plait; E. Malumuth; S. Heap; R. Terrile; D. Hines

doi:10.1086/432839

arXiv · astro-ph/0506358

An Infrared Coronagraphic Survey for Substellar Companions

P. Lowrance·E. E. Becklin·G. Schneider·D. Kirkpatrick·A. Weinberger·B. Zuckerman·C. Dumas·J. L. Beuzit·P. Plait·E. Malumuth·S. Heap·R. Terrile·D. Hines

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Abstract

We have used the F160W filter (1.4-1.8 um) and the coronagraph on the Near-InfraRed Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to survey 45 single stars with a median age of 0.15 Gyr, an average distance of 30 pc, and an average H-magnitude of 7 mag. For the median age we were capable of detecting a 30 M_Jup companion at separations between 15 and 200 AU. A 5 M_Jup object could have been detected at 30 AU around 36% of our primaries. For several of our targets that were less than 30 Myr old, the lower mass limit was as low as a Jupiter mass, well into the high mass planet region. Results of the entire survey include the proper motion verification of five low-mass stellar companions, two brown dwarfs (HR7329B and TWA5B) and one possible brown dwarf binary (Gl 577B/C).

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P. Lowrance, E. E. Becklin, G. Schneider, D. Kirkpatrick, A. Weinberger, B. Zuckerman, C. Dumas, J. L. Beuzit, P. Plait, E. Malumuth, S. Heap, R. Terrile, D. Hines. 2005-06-15. An Infrared Coronagraphic Survey for Substellar Companions. https://doi.org/10.1086/432839

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