Bibcode
DOI
Zapatero Osorio, M. R.; Martín, E. L.; Béjar, V. J. S.; Bouy, H.; Deshpande, R.; Wainscoat, R. J.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 666, Issue 2, pp. 1205-1218.
Advertised on:
9
2007
Journal
Citations
70
Refereed citations
61
Description
We have obtained radial velocities of a sample of 18 ultracool dwarfs
(M6.5-T8) using high-resolution, near-infrared spectra obtained with
NIRSPEC and the Keck II telescope. We have confirmed that the radial
velocity of Gl 570D is coincident with that of the K-type primary star
Gl 570A, thus providing additional support for their true companionship.
The presence of planetary-mass companions around 2MASS J05591914-1404488
(T4.5 V) has been analyzed using five NIRSPEC radial velocity
measurements obtained over a period of 4.37 yr. We have computed UVW
space motions for a total of 21 L and T dwarfs within 20 pc of the Sun.
This population shows UVW velocities that nicely overlap the typical
kinematics of solar to M-type stars within the same spatial volume.
However, the mean Galactic and tangential velocities of the L and T
dwarfs appear to be smaller than those of G to M stars. A significant
fraction (~40%) of the ultracool dwarfs lie near the Hyades moving group
(0.4-2 Gyr), which contrasts with the 10%-12% found for earlier type
stellar neighbors. In addition, the distributions of the UVW components
and the distributions of the total Galactic and tangential velocities
derived for the L and T sample are narrower than those measured for
nearby G-, K-, and M-type stars, but similar to the dispersions obtained
for F stars. This suggests that, in the solar neighborhood, the
population of L- and T-type ultracool dwarfs (including brown dwarfs) is
kinematically younger than solar-type to early M stars, with likely ages
in the interval 0.5-4 Gyr.