On the Nature of the Companion to HD 114762

The results of a recent study of coplanarity tendencies between stellar equatorial and binary orbital planes are applied to the low-metal F9V star HD 114762, for which a possible substellar companion was reported by Latham et al. (1989). High-resolution spectroscopy is performed on HD 114762 in order to extract its projected rotational velocity (v sin i). This is then combined with an expected rotational velocity determined via age-scaling, providing an estimate of the star's equatorial inclination, which when combined with the results of the coplanarity study provides an approximate indication of the companion's orbital inclination. Although the former uncertainties in this process preclude an accurate estimate of the companion's inclination, the results suggest that the inclination is low, possibly low enough to force the companion's mass above the limit for hydrogen fusion. It is thus possible the companion may be nothing more exotic than a low-mass M star, as opposed to a brown dwarf. These results add support to a similar conclusion recently obtained by Cochran et al. (1991). (SECTION: Stars)