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arXiv · 1008.4141

LHS6343C: A Transiting Field Brown Dwarf Discovered by the Kepler Mission

John Asher Johnson·Kevin Apps·J. Zachary Gazak·Justin R. Crepp·Ian J. Crossfield·Andrew W. Howard·Geoff W. Marcy·Timothy D. Morton·Carly Chubak·Howard Isaacson
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Abstract

We report the discovery of a brown dwarf that transits one member of the M+M binary system LHS6343AB every 12.71 days. The transits were discovered using photometric data from the Kelper public data release. The LHS6343 stellar system was previously identified as a single high-proper-motion M dwarf. We use high-contrast imaging to resolve the system into two low-mass stars with masses 0.45 Msun and 0.36 Msun, respectively, and a projected separation of 55 arcsec. High-resolution spectroscopy shows that the more massive component undergoes Doppler variations consistent with Keplerian motion, with a period equal to the transit period and an amplitude consistent with a companion mass of M_C = 62.8 +/- 2.3 Mjup. Based on an analysis of the Kepler light curve we estimate the radius of the companion to be R_C = 0.832 +/- 0.021 Rjup, which is consistent with theoretical predictions of the radius of a > 1 Gyr brown dwarf.

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John Asher Johnson, Kevin Apps, J. Zachary Gazak, Justin R. Crepp, Ian J. Crossfield, Andrew W. Howard, Geoff W. Marcy, Timothy D. Morton, Carly Chubak, Howard Isaacson. 2010-11-30. LHS6343C: A Transiting Field Brown Dwarf Discovered by the Kepler Mission. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x%2F730%2F2%2F79

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