arXiv subjects

Thomas L. Hayward

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas L. Hayward.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Roasting Marshmallows Program with IGRINS on Gemini South V: Atmosphere of MASCARA-1b is Enriched in Refractory Elements

Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs; $T_{\rm eq} \gtrsim 2000$ K) enable simultaneous detection of volatile (ice-forming) and refractory (rock-forming) species in planetary atmospheres, providing a powerful diagnostic of planet formation and atmospheric processing. We present a comprehensive high-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy (HRCCS) analysis of the UHJ MASCARA-1b ($T_{\rm eq} \approx 2600$ K) using the IGRINS and IGRINS-2 spectrographs. We detect robust (SNR$>$4) signals from H$_2$O, CO, OH, Fe I, Mg I, Ca I, and Ti I, marking the most complete atmospheric inventory of MASCARA-1b to date. Using a chemically consistent atmospheric inference framework, we constrain elemental abundances to a typical precision of $\approx$0.2 dex, retrieving a solar atmospheric metallicity ([M/H]$_\odot$ $= 0.07^{+0.17}_{-0.13}$ $\approx 1.2\times$ solar), a C/O ratio (C/O $= 0.65^{+0.08}_{-0.08}$) consistent with solar value (C/O $=$ 0.59), an enhanced refractory abundance ([R/H]$_\odot$ $= 0.40^{+0.23}_{-0.17} \approx 2.5\times$ solar; $\approx 3.8\times$ stellar), and a moderately super-solar refractory-to-volatile ratio ([R/V]$_\odot$ $= 0.36^{+0.11}_{-0.09}$ $\approx 2.3\times$ solar). Comparison with formation models suggests that MASCARA-1b most likely accreted material between the soot-H$_2$O or H$_2$O-CO snowlines (at 68$\%$ confidence). We additionally find stellar values for atmospheric Ti/Mg and Ca/Mg ratios (at 68$\%$ confidence). The Mg/Fe is also found to be consistent with stellar value at 95$\%$ confidence. Therefore, we do not find strong indication of nightside cold trapping in MASCARA-1b. As homogeneous refractory-to-volatile measurements expand across the UHJ population, particularly with upcoming Extremely Large Telescopes, these diagnostics will enable statistically robust tests of emerging trends in giant planet formation and atmospheric evolution.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2025

An Early Look at the Performance of IGRINS-2 at Gemini-North with Application to the ultrahot Jupiter, WASP-33 b

Ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy enables precise molecular detections and velocity-resolved atmospheric dynamics, offering a distinct advantage over low-resolution methods for exoplanetary atmospheric studies. IGRINS-2, the successor to IGRINS, features improved throughput and enhanced sensitivity to carbon monoxide by shifting its $\textit{K}$-band coverage by 36 nm to longer wavelengths. IGRINS is a near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph mounted at McDonald, Lowell, and Gemini-South observatories. Our order-drop test shows this added range improves the CO cross-correlation signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by 2$-$3%, confirming a measurable but modest sensitivity gain. To evaluate its performance, we attempt to investigate the atmospheric characteristics of WASP-33 b. Observations were conducted on 2024 January 7 for a total of 2.43 hours; This includes 1.46 hours in the pre-eclipse phase to capture the planet's thermal emission spectrum. We successfully detect clear cross-correlation signals from molecular species in the dayside atmosphere of WASP-33 b with a combined SNR of 7.4. More specifically, we capture CO, H$_{2}$O, and OH with SNRs of 6.3, 4.7, and 4.2, respectively. These results are consistent with previous studies and demonstrate that IGRINS-2 is well-suited for detailed investigation of exoplanetary atmospheres. We anticipate that future observations with IGRINS-2 will further advance our understanding of exoplanetary atmospheres.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2025

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with IGRINS-2 for Studying Multiple Stellar Populations in Globular Clusters

Recent advancements in near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy have opened new opportunities for studying multiple stellar populations in globular clusters (GCs), particularly for newly discovered clusters in the inner Milky Way. While optical spectroscopy has traditionally played a primary role in detailed chemical abundance studies of GCs, the increasing discovery of GCs in highly reddened environments underscores the need for robust NIR spectroscopic methods. To evaluate the utility of high-resolution NIR spectroscopy for studying multiple stellar populations, we observed six stars in M5, a well-studied halo GC, using the recently commissioned IGRINS-2 spectrograph on the Gemini-North telescope. Our chemical abundance measurements in the NIR wavelength range show good agreement with those derived from high-resolution optical spectroscopy, with minor systematic offsets in elements such as Na and Mg. In addition, the measured chemical abundance ratios clearly reproduce the distinctive patterns of multiple stellar populations, including the Na-O anti-correlation. The ability of NIR spectroscopy to measure C, N, and O abundances with high precision further enhances its utility for studying chemical properties of stars and GCs. Our findings demonstrate that IGRINS-2 and similar instruments have significant potential to advance our understanding of GC formation, stellar chemical evolution, and the evolutionary history of the Milky Way.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Effects of Mirror Seeing on High-Contrast Adaptive Optics Instruments

Ground-based direct imaging surveys like the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey (GPIES) rely on Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to image and characterize exoplanets that are up to a million times fainter than their host stars. One factor that can reduce AO performance is turbulence induced by temperature differences in the instrument's immediate surroundings (e.g.: "dome seeing" or "mirror seeing"). In this analysis we use science observations, AO telemetry, and environmental data from September 2014 to February 2017 of the GPIES campaign to quantify the effects of "mirror seeing" on the performance of the GPI instrument. We show that GPI performance is optimal when the primary mirror (M1) is in equilibrium with the outside air temperature. We then examine the characteristics of mirror seeing by calculating the power spectral densities (PSD) of spatial and temporal Fourier modes. Inside the inertial range of the PSDs, we find that the spatial PSD amplitude increases when M1 is out of equilibrium and that the integrated turbulence may exhibit deviations from Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence models and from the 1-layer frozen flow model. We conclude with an assessment of the current temperature control and ventilation strategy at Gemini South.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Air, Telescope, and Instrument Temperature Effects on the Gemini Planet Imager's Image Quality

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a near-infrared instrument that uses Adaptive Optics (AO), a coronagraph, and advanced data processing techniques to achieve very high contrast images of exoplanets. The GPI Exoplanet Survey (GPIES) is a 600 stars campaign aiming at detecting and characterizing young, massive and self-luminous exoplanets at large orbital distances >5 au. Science observations are taken simultaneously with environmental data revealing information about the turbulence in the telescope environment as well as limitations of GPI's AO system. Previous work has shown that the timescale of the turbulence, Tau0, is a strong predictor of AO performance, however an analysis of the dome turbulence on AO performance has not been done before. Here, we study correlations between image contrast and residual wavefront error (WFE) with temperature measurements from multiple locations inside and outside the dome. Our analysis revealed GPI's performance is most correlated with the temperature difference between the primary mirror of the telescope and the outside air. We also assess the impact of the current temperature control and ventilation strategy at Gemini South (GS).

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Planets Around Low-Mass Stars (PALMS). V. Age-Dating Low-Mass Companions to Members and Interlopers of Young Moving Groups

We present optical and near-infrared adaptive optics (AO) imaging and spectroscopy of 13 ultracool (>M6) companions to late-type stars (K7-M4.5), most of which have recently been identified as candidate members of nearby young moving groups (YMGs; 8-120 Myr) in the literature. The inferred masses of the companions (~10-100 Mjup) are highly sensitive to the ages of the primary stars so we critically examine the kinematic and spectroscopic properties of each system to distinguish bona fide YMG members from old field interlopers. 2MASS J02155892-0929121 C is a new M7 substellar companion (40-60 Mjup) with clear spectroscopic signs of low gravity and hence youth. The primary, possibly a member of the ~40 Myr Tuc-Hor moving group, is visually resolved into three components, making it a young low-mass quadruple system in a compact (<100 AU) configuration. In addition, Li 1 $λ$6708 absorption in the intermediate-gravity M7.5 companion 2MASS J15594729+4403595 B provides unambiguous evidence that it is young (<200 Myr) and resides below the hydrogen burning limit. Three new close-separation (<1") companions (2MASS J06475229-2523304 B, PYC J11519+0731 B, and GJ 4378 Ab) orbit stars previously reported as candidate YMG members, but instead are likely old (>1 Gyr) tidally-locked spectroscopic binaries without convincing kinematic associations with any known moving group. The high rate of false positives in the form of old active stars with YMG-like kinematics underscores the importance of radial velocity and parallax measurements to validate candidate young stars identified via proper motion and activity selection alone. Finally, we spectroscopically confirm the cool temperature and substellar nature of HD 23514 B, a recently discovered M8 benchmark brown dwarf orbiting the dustiest-known member of the Pleiades. [Abridged]

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

Improving Signal to Noise in the Direct Imaging of Exoplanets and Circumstellar Disks

We present a new algorithm designed to improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of point and extended source detections in direct imaging data. The novel part of our method is that it finds the linear combination of the science images that best match counterpart images with signal removed from suspected source regions. The algorithm, based on the Locally Optimized Combination of Images (LOCI) method, is called Matched LOCI or MLOCI. We show using data obtained with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) that the new algorithm can improve the SNR of point source detections by 30-400% over past methods. We also find no increase in false detections rates. No prior knowledge of candidate companion locations is required to use MLOCI. While non-blind applications may yield linear combinations of science images which seem to increase the SNR of true sources by a factor > 2, they can also yield false detections at high rates. This is a potential pitfall when trying to confirm marginal detections or to re-detect point sources found in previous epochs. Our findings are relevant to any method where the coefficients of the linear combination are considered tunable, e.g. LOCI and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Thus we recommend that false detection rates be analyzed when using these techniques.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

Astrometric Calibration of the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign

We describe the astrometric calibration of the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign. The Campaign requires a relative astrometric accuracy of $\approx$ 20 mas across multi-year timescales in order to distinguish true companions from background stars by verifying common proper motion and parallax with their parent stars. The calibration consists of a correction for instrumental optical image distortion, plus on-sky imaging of astrometric fields to determine the pixel scale and image orientation. We achieve an accuracy of $\lesssim 7$ mas between the center and edge of the 18$''$ NICI field, meeting the 20 mas requirement. Most of the Campaign data in the Gemini Science Archive are accurate to this level but we identify a number of anomalies and present methods to correct the errors.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Orbit of the Young Exoplanet beta Pictoris b

We present new astrometry for the young (12--21 Myr) exoplanet beta Pictoris b taken with the Gemini/NICI and Magellan/MagAO instruments between 2009 and 2012. The high dynamic range of our observations allows us to measure the relative position of beta Pic b with respect to its primary star with greater accuracy than previous observations. Based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis, we find the planet has an orbital semi-major axis of 9.1 (+5.3, -0.5) AU and orbital eccentricity <0.15 at 68% confidence (with 95% confidence intervals of 8.2--48 AU and 0.00--0.82 for semi-major axis and eccentricity, respectively, due to a long narrow degenerate tail between the two). We find that the planet has reached its maximum projected elongation, enabling higher precision determination of the orbital parameters than previously possible, and that the planet's projected separation is currently decreasing. With unsaturated data of the entire beta Pic system (primary star, planet, and disk) obtained thanks to NICI's semi-transparent focal plane mask, we are able to tightly constrain the relative orientation of the circumstellar components. We find the orbital plane of the planet lies between the inner and outer disks: the position angle (PA) of nodes for the planet's orbit (211.8 +/- 0.3 degrees) is 7.4 sigma greater than the PA of the spine of the outer disk and 3.2 sigma less than the warped inner disk PA, indicating the disk is not collisionally relaxed. Finally, for the first time we are able to dynamically constrain the mass of the primary star beta Pic to 1.76 (+0.18, -0.17) solar masses.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Offset Ring of HR 4796 A

We present J, H, CH_4 short (1.578 micron), CH_4 long (1.652 micron) and K_s-band images of the dust ring around the 10 Myr old star HR 4796 A obtained using the Near Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) on the Gemini-South 8.1 meter Telescope. Our images clearly show for the first time the position of the star relative to its circumstellar ring thanks to NICI's translucent focal plane occulting mask. We employ a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to constrain the offset vector between the two. The resulting probability distribution shows that the ring center is offset from the star by 16.7+/-1.3 milliarcseconds along a position angle of 26+/-3 degrees, along the PA of the ring, 26.47+/-0.04 degrees. We find that the size of this offset is not large enough to explain the brightness asymmetry of the ring. The ring is measured to have mostly red reflectivity across the JHK_s filters, which seems to indicate micron-sized grains. Just like Neptune's 3:2 and 2:1 mean-motion resonances delineate the inner and outer edges of the classical Kuiper Belt, we find that the radial extent of the HR 4796 A and Fomalhaut rings could correspond to the 3:2 and 2:1 mean-motion resonances of hypothetical planets at 54.7 AU and 97.7 AU in the two systems, respectively. A planet orbiting HR 4796 A at 54.7 AU would have to be less massive than 1.6 Mjup so as not to widen the ring too much by stirring.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

Magellan Adaptive Optics first-light observations of the exoplanet $β$ Pic b. I. Direct imaging in the far-red optical with MagAO+VisAO and in the near-IR with NICI

We present the first ground-based CCD ($λ< 1μ$m) image of an extrasolar planet. Using MagAO's VisAO camera we detected the extrasolar giant planet (EGP) $β$ Pictoris b in $Y$-short ($Y_S$, 0.985 $μ$m), at a separation of $0.470 \pm 0.010''$ and a contrast of $(1.63 \pm 0.49) \times 10^{-5}$. This detection has a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.1, with an empirically estimated upper-limit on false alarm probability of 1.0%. We also present new photometry from the NICI instrument on the Gemini-South telescope, in $CH_{4S,1\%}$ ($1.58$ $μm$), $K_S$ ($2.18μm$), and $K_{cont}$ (2.27 $μm$). A thorough analysis of our photometry combined with previous measurements yields an estimated near-IR spectral type of L$2.5\pm1.5$, consistent with previous estimates. We estimate log$(L_{bol}/L_{Sun})$ = $-3.86 \pm 0.04$, which is consistent with prior estimates for $β$ Pic b and with field early-L brown dwarfs. This yields a hot-start mass estimate of $11.9 \pm 0.7$ $M_{Jup}$ for an age of $21\pm4$ Myr, with an upper limit below the deuterium burning mass. Our $L_{bol}$ based hot-start estimate for temperature is $T_{eff}=1643\pm32$ K (not including model dependent uncertainty). Due to the large corresponding model-derived radius of $R=1.43\pm0.02$ $R_{Jup}$, this $T_{eff}$ is $\sim$$250$ K cooler than would be expected for a field L2.5 brown dwarf. Other young, low-gravity (large radius), ultracool dwarfs and directly-imaged EGPs also have lower effective temperatures than are implied by their spectral types. However, such objects tend to be anomalously red in the near-IR compared to field brown dwarfs. In contrast, $β$ Pic b has near-IR colors more typical of an early-L dwarf despite its lower inferred temperature.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Companion Detection Pipeline

We present the high-contrast image processing techniques used by the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign to detect faint companions to bright stars. NICI (Near Infrared Coronagraphic Imager) is an adaptive optics instrument installed on the 8-m Gemini South telescope, capable of angular and spectral difference imaging and specifically designed to image exoplanets. The Campaign data pipeline achieves median contrasts of 12.6 magnitudes at 0.5" and 14.4 magnitudes at 1" separation, for a sample of 45 stars (V= 4.3-13.9 mag) from the early phase of the Campaign. We also present a novel approach to calculating contrast curves for companion detection based on 95% completeness in the recovery of artificial companions injected into the raw data, while accounting for the false-positive rate. We use this technique to select the image processing algorithms that are more successful at recovering faint simulated point sources. We compare our pipeline to the performance of the LOCI algorithm for NICI data and do not find significant improvement with LOCI.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Frequency of Planets around Young Moving Group Stars

We report results of a direct imaging survey for giant planets around 80 members of the Beta Pic, TW Hya, Tucana-Horologium, AB Dor, and Hercules-Lyra moving groups, observed as part of the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign. For this sample, we obtained median contrasts of ΔH=13.9 mag at 1" in combined CH4 narrowband ADI+SDI mode and median contrasts of ΔH=15.1 mag at 2" in H-band ADI mode. We found numerous (>70) candidate companions in our survey images. Some of these candidates were rejected as common-proper motion companions using archival data; we reobserved with NICI all other candidates that lay within 400 AU of the star and were not in dense stellar fields. The vast majority of candidate companions were confirmed as background objects from archival observations and/or dedicated NICI campaign followup. Four co-moving companions of brown dwarf or stellar mass were discovered in this moving group sample: PZ Tel B (36+-6 MJup, 16.4+-1.0 AU, Biller et al. 2010), CD -35 2722B (31+-8 MJup, 67+-4 AU, Wahhaj et al. 2011), HD 12894B (0.46+-0.08 MSun, 15.7+-1.0 AU), and BD+07 1919C (0.20+-0.03 MSun, 12.5+-1.4 AU). From a Bayesian analysis of the achieved H band ADI and ASDI contrasts, using power-law models of planet distributions and hot-start evolutionary models, we restrict the frequency of 1--20 MJup companions at semi-major axes from 10--150 AU to <18% at a 95.4% confidence level using DUSTY models and to <6% at a 95.4% using COND models.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Frequency of Giant Planets Around Debris Disk Stars

We have completed a high-contrast direct imaging survey for giant planets around 57 debris disk stars as part of the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign. We achieved median H-band contrasts of 12.4 mag at 0.5" and 14.1 mag at 1" separation. Follow-up observations of the 66 candidates with projected separation < 500 AU show that all of them are background objects. To establish statistical constraints on the underlying giant planet population based on our imaging data, we have developed a new Bayesian formalism that incorporates (1) non-detections, (2) single-epoch candidates, (3) astrometric and (4) photometric information, and (5) the possibility of multiple planets per star to constrain the planet population. Our formalism allows us to include in our analysis the previously known Beta Pictoris and the HR 8799 planets. Our results show at 95% confidence that <13% of debris disk stars have a >5MJup planet beyond 80 AU, and <21% of debris disk stars have a >3MJup planet outside of 40 AU, based on hot-start evolutionary models. We model the population of directly-imaged planets as d^2N/dMda ~ m^alpha a^beta, where m is planet mass and a is orbital semi-major axis (with a maximum value of amax). We find that beta < -0.8 and/or alpha > 1.7. Likewise, we find that beta < -0.8 and/or amax < 200 AU. If we ignore the Beta Pic and HR 8799 planets (should they belong to a rare and distinct group), we find that < 20% of debris disk stars have a > 3MJup planet beyond 10 AU, and beta < -0.8 and/or alpha < -1.5. Our Bayesian constraints are not strong enough to reveal any dependence of the planet frequency on stellar host mass. Studies of transition disks have suggested that about 20% of stars are undergoing planet formation; our non-detections at large separations show that planets with orbital separation > 40 AU and planet masses > 3 MJup do not carve the central holes in these disks.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Frequency of Giant Planets around Young B and A Stars

We have carried out high contrast imaging of 70 young, nearby B and A stars to search for brown dwarf and planetary companions as part of the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign. Our survey represents the largest, deepest survey for planets around high-mass stars (~1.5-2.5 M_sun) conducted to date and includes the planet hosts beta Pic and Fomalhaut. We obtained follow-up astrometry of all candidate companions within 400 AU projected separation for stars in uncrowded fields and identified new low-mass companions to HD 1160 and HIP 79797. We have found that the previously known young brown dwarf companion to HIP 79797 is itself a tight (3 AU) binary, composed of brown dwarfs with masses 58 (+21, -20) M_Jup and 55 (+20, -19) M_Jup, making this system one of the rare substellar binaries in orbit around a star. Considering the contrast limits of our NICI data and the fact that we did not detect any planets, we use high-fidelity Monte Carlo simulations to show that fewer than 20% of 2 M_sun stars can have giant planets greater than 4 M_Jup between 59 and 460 AU at 95% confidence, and fewer than 10% of these stars can have a planet more massive than 10 M_Jup between 38 and 650 AU. Overall, we find that large-separation giant planets are not common around B and A stars: fewer than 10% of B and A stars can have an analog to the HR 8799 b (7 M_Jup, 68 AU) planet at 95% confidence. We also describe a new Bayesian technique for determining the ages of field B and A stars from photometry and theoretical isochrones. Our method produces more plausible ages for high-mass stars than previous age-dating techniques, which tend to underestimate stellar ages and their uncertainties.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

Companions to nearby stars with astrometric acceleration. II

Hipparcos astrometric binaries were observed with the NICI adaptive optics system at Gemini-S, completing the work of Paper I (Tokovinin et al. 2012). Among the 65 F, G, K dwarfs within 67pc of the Sun studied here, we resolve 18 new sub-arcsecond companions, re-measure 7 known astrometric pairs, and establish the physical nature of yet another three wider companions. The 107 astrometric binaries targeted at Gemini so far have 38 resolved companions with separations under 3". Modeling shows that bright enough companions with separations on the order of an arcsecond can perturb the Hipparcos astrometry when they are not accounted for in the data reduction. However, the resulting bias of parallax and proper motion is generally below formal errors and such companions cannot produce fake acceleration. This work contributes to the multiplicity statistics of nearby dwarfs by bridging the gap between spectroscopic and visual binaries and by providing estimates of periods and mass ratios for many astrometric binaries.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Revealing companions to nearby stars with astrometric acceleration

A subset of 51 Hipparcos astrometric binaries among FG dwarfs within 67pc has been surveyed with the NICI adaptive optics system at Gemini-S, directly resolving for the first time 17 sub-arcsecond companions and 7 wider ones. Using these data together with published speckle interferometry of 57 stars, we compare the statistics of resolved astrometric companions with those of a simulated binary population. The fraction of resolved companions is slightly lower than expected from binary statistics. About 10% of astrometric companions could be "dark" (white dwarfs and close pairs of late M-dwarfs). To our surprise, several binaries are found with companions too wide to explain the acceleration. Re-analysis of selected intermediate astrometric data shows that some acceleration solutions in the original Hipparcos catalog are spurious.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: Discovery of a Multiple System Orbiting the Young A Star HD 1160

We report the discovery by the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign of two low-mass companions to the young A0V star HD 1160 at projected separations of 81 +/- 5 AU (HD 1160 B) and 533 +/- 25 AU (HD 1160 C). VLT images of the system taken over a decade for the purpose of using HD 1160 A as a photometric calibrator confirm that both companions are physically associated. By comparing the system to members of young moving groups and open clusters with well-established ages, we estimate an age of 50 (+50,-40) Myr for HD 1160 ABC. While the UVW motion of the system does not match any known moving group, the small magnitude of the space velocity is consistent with youth. Near-IR spectroscopy shows HD 1160 C to be an M3.5 +/- 0.5 star with an estimated mass of 0.22 (+0.03,-0.04) M_Sun, while NIR photometry of HD 1160 B suggests a brown dwarf with a mass of 33 (+12,-9) M_Jup. The very small mass ratio (0.014) between the A and B components of the system is rare for A star binaries, and would represent a planetary-mass companion were HD 1160 A to be slightly less massive than the Sun.

astro-ph.SR↗