A Spectrophotometric Technique for Detecting Companions of Low‐Mass M Dwarfs

The most common stars in the Galaxy are the main‐sequence M dwarfs, yet current techniques are not optimized for detecting companions around the lowest mass M dwarfs, those with spectral designations ranging from M6 to M10. Described in this paper is a search for companions around such stars using a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2001-06, Vol.113 (784), p.703-714
Main Authors:	Oetiker, Brian, Duric, Nebojsa, McGraw, John T., McGrath, Melissa A.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Brown dwarfs Dwarf stars M dwarfs Optical filters Spectral methods Stars Stellar classification Stellar spectra Substellar companions Telescopes
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The most common stars in the Galaxy are the main‐sequence M dwarfs, yet current techniques are not optimized for detecting companions around the lowest mass M dwarfs, those with spectral designations ranging from M6 to M10. Described in this paper is a search for companions around such stars using a newly designed differential spectrophotometric technique. This novel method combines the strengths of the photometric and spectroscopic techniques, while it minimizes their inherent limitations. The scientific goal of this project is to search for short‐period systems containing brown dwarfs and giant planets. The detection of or placing limits on such systems will help discriminate among competing theories of planetary formation.
ISSN:	0004-6280 1538-3873