2006ApJ...640.1051G -
Astrophys. J., 640, 1051-1062 (2006/April-1)
How dry is the brown dwarf desert? Quantifying the relative number of planets, brown dwarfs, and stellar companions around nearby Sun-like stars.
GRETHER D. and LINEWEAVER C.H.
Abstract (from CDS):
Sun-like stars have stellar, brown dwarf, and planetary companions. To help constrain their formation and migration scenarios, we analyze the close companions (orbital period <5 yr) of nearby Sun-like stars. By using the same sample to extract the relative numbers of stellar, brown dwarf, and planetary companions, we verify the existence of a very dry brown dwarf desert and describe it quantitatively. With decreasing mass, the companion mass function drops by almost 2 orders of magnitude from 1 M☉stellar companions to the brown dwarf desert and then rises by more than an order of magnitude from brown dwarfs to Jupiter-mass planets. The slopes of the planetary and stellar companion mass functions are of opposite sign and are incompatible at the 3 σ level, thus yielding a brown dwarf desert. The minimum number of companions per unit interval in log mass (the driest part of the desert) is at M=31+25–18MJ. Approximately 16% of Sun-like stars have close (P<5 yr) companions more massive than Jupiter: 11%±3% are stellar, <1% are brown dwarf, and 5%±2% are giant planets. The steep decline in the number of companions in the brown dwarf regime, compared to the initial mass function of individual stars and free-floating brown dwarfs, suggests either a different spectrum of gravitational fragmentation in the formation environment or post-formation migratory processes disinclined to leave brown dwarfs in close orbits.
Abstract Copyright:
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Journal keyword(s):
Stars: Low-Mass, Brown Dwarfs
VizieR on-line data:
<Available at CDS (J/ApJ/640/1051): table1.dat>
Simbad objects:
470
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