11 New Transiting Brown Dwarfs and Very Low Mass Stars from TESS
We present the discovery of 11 new transiting brown dwarfs and low-mass M-dwarfs from NASA’s TESS mission: TOI-2844, TOI-3122, TOI-3577, TOI-3755, TOI-4462, TOI-4635, TOI-4737, TOI-4759, TOI-5240, TOI-5467, and TOI-5882.
They consist of 5 brown dwarf companions and 6 very low mass stellar companions ranging in mass from 25MJ to 128MJ. We used a combination of photometric time-series, spectroscopic, and high resolution imaging follow-up as a part of the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) in order to characterize each system.
With over 50 transiting brown dwarfs confirmed, we now have a large enough sample to directly test different formation and evolutionary scenarios. We provide a renewed perspective on the transiting brown dwarf desert and its role in differentiating between planetary and stellar formation mechanisms.
Our analysis of the eccentricity distribution for the transiting brown dwarf sample does not support previous claims of a transition between planetary and stellar formation at ∼42 MJ. We also contribute a first look into the metallicity distribution of transiting companions in the range 7−150 MJ, showing that this too does not support a ∼42 MJ transition.
Finally, we also detect a significant lithium absorption feature in one of the brown dwarf hosts (TOI-5882) but determine that the host star is likely old based on rotation, kinematic, and photometric measurements. We therefore claim that TOI-5882 may be a candidate for planetary engulfment.
Noah Vowell, Joseph E. Rodriguez, David W. Latham, Samuel N. Quinn, Jack Schulte, Jason D. Eastman, Allyson Bieryla, Khalid Barkaoui, David R. Ciardi, Karen A. Collins, Eric Girardin, Ellie Heldridge, Brooke Kotten, Luigi Mancini, Felipe Murgas, Norio Narita, D. J. Radford, Howard M. Relles, Avi Shporer, Melinda Soares-Furtado, Ivan A. Strakhov, Carl Ziegler, César Briceño, Michael L. Calkins, Catherine A. Clark, Kevin I. Collins, Gilbert A. Esquerdo, Sergio B. Fajardo-Acosta, Akihiko Fukui, Cristilyn N. Watkins, Ruixuan He, Keith Horne, Jon M. Jenkins, Andrew W. Mann, Luca Naponiello, Enric Palle, Richard P. Schwarz, S. Seager, John Southworth, Gregor Srdoc, Jonathan J. Swift, Joshua N. Winn
Comments: Submitted, 32 pages, 16 figures
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:2501.09795 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2501.09795v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.09795
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Submission history
From: Noah Vowell
[v1] Thu, 16 Jan 2025 19:00:05 UTC (4,996 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.09795
Astrobiology,
