2013/08/22 by Daniella C. Bardalez Gagliuffi, Adam J. Burgasser, Gagliuffi, Daniella C. Bardalez +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1308.5006
openalex publication_date 2013/08/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Multiplicity is a key statistic for understanding the formation of very low mass (VLM) stars and brown dwarfs. Currently, the separation distribution of VLM binaries remains poorly constrained at small separations (< 1 AU), leading to uncertainty in the overall binary fraction. We approach this problem by searching for spectral binaries whose identification is independent of separation. The combined spectra of these systems exhibit traces of methane imposed on an earlier-type spectra. When the primary of such a system is a late-type M or early-type L dwarf, however, the relative faintness of the T dwarf secondary (up to 5 magnitudes at K-band) renders these features extremely subtle. We present a set of spectral indices newly designed to identify these systems, and a spectral fitting method to confirm and characterize them. We apply this method to a library of over 750 spectra from the SpeX Prism Spectral Libraries. We present new spectral binary candidates, compare them to recent discoveries, and describe ongoing followup to search for resolved companions and/or radial velocity variability.