Bibcode
Gauza, B.; Béjar, V. J. S.; Rebolo, R.; Álvarez, C.; Bihain, G.; Zapatero Osorio, M. R.; Caballero, J. A.; Telesco, C. M.; Packham, C.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 452, Issue 2, p.1677-1683
Advertised on:
9
2015
Citations
6
Refereed citations
6
Description
We have performed mid-infrared imaging of Barnard's Star, one of the
nearest stars to the Sun, using CanariCam on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio
Canarias. We aim to investigate an area within 1-10 arcsec separations,
which for the 1.83 pc distance of the star translates to projected
orbital separations of 1.8-18 au (P > 12 yr), which have not been
explored yet with astrometry or radial velocity programs. It is
therefore an opportunity to enter the domain of distances where most
giant planets are expected to form. We performed deep imaging in the
N-band window (Si-2 filter, 8.7 μm) reaching a 3σ detection
limit of 0.85 ± 0.18 mJy and angular resolution of 0.24 arcsec,
close to the diffraction limit of the telescope at this wavelength. A
total of 80 min on-source integration time data were collected and
combined for the deepest image. We achieved a dynamical range of 8.0
± 0.1 mag in the 8.7 μm band, at angular separations from
˜2 to 10 arcsec and of ˜6-8 mag at 1-2 arcsec. No additional
sources were found. Our detectability limits provide further constraints
to the presence of substellar companions of the Barnard's Star.
According to solar metallicity evolutionary models, we can exclude
companions of masses larger than 15 MJup (Teff
> 400 K), ages of a few Gyr, and located in ˜3.6-18 au orbits
with a 3σ confidence level. This minimum mass is approximately 5
MJup smaller than any previous imaging survey that explored
the surroundings of Barnard's Star could restrict.
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