Dynamical Mass of the Young Brown Dwarf Companion PZ Tel B
Abstract
Dynamical masses of giant planets and brown dwarfs are critical tools for empirically validating substellar evolutionary models and their underlying assumptions. We present a measurement of the dynamical mass and an updated orbit of PZ Tel B, a young brown dwarf companion orbiting a late-G member of the β Pic moving group. PZ Tel A exhibits an astrometric acceleration between Hipparcos and Gaia EDR3, which enables the direct determination of the companion's mass. We have also acquired new Keck/NIRC2 adaptive optics imaging of the system, which increases the total baseline of relative astrometry to 15 yr. Our joint orbit fit yields a dynamical mass of ${27}_{-9}^{+25}\,{M}_{\mathrm{Jup}}$ , semimajor axis of ${27}_{-4}^{+14}\,\mathrm{au}$ , eccentricity of ${0.52}_{-0.10}^{+0.08}$ , and inclination of ${91.73}_{-0.32}^{{+0.36}^\circ} $ . The companion's mass is consistent within 1.1σ of predictions from four grids of hot-start evolutionary models. The joint orbit fit also indicates a more modest eccentricity of PZ Tel B than previous results. PZ Tel joins a small number of young (<200 Myr) systems with benchmark substellar companions that have dynamical masses and precise ages from moving group membership.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 2023
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2304.01302
- Bibcode:
- 2023AJ....165..246F
- Keywords:
-
- Brown dwarfs;
- Direct imaging;
- Astrometry;
- Orbit determination;
- 185;
- 387;
- 80;
- 1175;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted to AJ