The Solar Neighborhood III: A Near Infrared Search for Widely
Separated Low Mass Binaries
D. A. Simons Gemini Telescopes Project, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson AZ 85719
Todd J. Henry Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore MD 21218
J. Davy Kirkpatrick JPL/IPAC Caltech, MS 100-22, Pasadena CA 91125
Abstract.
A near infrared survey designed to detect widely separated, very low
mass companions to M dwarfs within 8 pc stars is described. This survey is
unique in that it is sensitive to companions with separations of ~100-1400
AU from primaries and with masses down to the 0.03
M level, thereby sampling
rarely explored parameter space. In Phase I of this program, described here,
candidate stellar and brown dwarf companions are identified by creating color
magnitude plots of all detected point sources in the fields surrounding
primaries and searching for objects that are bright enough to be stellar
(M 11)
or that fall close to theoretical brown dwarf isochrones like
GD 165B (M
13). Common proper motion and spectroscopic checks are used to
screen candidates. To date, all candidates for which we have made follow-up
observations have been identified as background sources and no new low mass
stellar or brown dwarf candidates have emerged from this survey. Phase II of
this program will include a search for common proper motion between primaries
and all field objects to M 17.5, allowing identification of widely
separated substellar components, including objects like GL 229B.
level, thereby sampling
rarely explored parameter space. In Phase I of this program, described here,
candidate stellar and brown dwarf companions are identified by creating color
magnitude plots of all detected point sources in the fields surrounding
primaries and searching for objects that are bright enough to be stellar
(M
11)
or that fall close to theoretical brown dwarf isochrones like
GD 165B (M