Bibcode
Bayliss, D.; Hojjatpanah, S.; Santerne, A.; Dragomir, D.; Zhou, G.; Shporer, A.; Colón, K. D.; Almenara, J.; Armstrong, D. J.; Barrado, D.; Barros, S. C. C.; Bento, J.; Boisse, I.; Bouchy, F.; Brown, D. J. A.; Brown, T.; Cameron, A.; Cochran, W. D.; Demangeon, O.; Deleuil, M.; Díaz, R. F.; Fulton, B.; Horne, K.; Hébrard, G.; Lillo-Box, J.; Lovis, C.; Mawet, D.; Ngo, H.; Osborn, H.; Palle, E.; Petigura, E.; Pollacco, D.; Santos, N.; Sefako, R.; Siverd, R.; Sousa, S. G.; Tsantaki, M.
Bibliographical reference
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 153, Issue 1, article id. 15, 10 pp. (2017).
Advertised on:
1
2017
Citations
40
Refereed citations
38
Description
We report the discovery of EPIC 201702477b, a transiting brown dwarf in
a long period (40.73691 ± 0.00037 day) and eccentric (e = 0.2281
± 0.0026) orbit. This system was initially reported as a
planetary candidate based on two transit events seen in K2 Campaign 1
photometry and later validated as an exoplanet candidate. We confirm the
transit and refine the ephemeris with two subsequent ground-based
detections of the transit using the Las Cumbres Observatory Global
Telescope 1 m telescope network. We rule out any transit timing
variations above the level of ˜30 s. Using high precision radial
velocity measurements from HARPS and SOPHIE we identify the transiting
companion as a brown dwarf with a mass, radius, and bulk density of 66.9
± 1.7 M J, 0.757 ± 0.065 R J, and
191 ± 51 g cm-3 respectively. EPIC 201702477b is
the smallest radius brown dwarf yet discovered, with a mass just below
the H-burning limit. It has the highest density of any planet,
substellar mass object, or main-sequence star discovered so far. We find
evidence in the set of known transiting brown dwarfs for two populations
of objects—high mass brown dwarfs and low mass brown dwarfs. The
higher-mass population have radii in very close agreement to theoretical
models, and show a lower-mass limit around 60 M J. This may
be the signature of mass-dependent ejection of systems during the
formation process.
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Pallé Bago