Near-infrared imaging polarimetry of LkCa 15: A possible warped inner disk.

We present high-contrast H-band polarized intensity images of the transitional disk around the young solar-like star LkCa 15. By utilizing Subaru/HiCIAO for polarimetric differential imaging, the angular resolution and the inner working angle reach 0.07 and r = 0″.1, respectively. We obtained a clearly resolved gap (width ≲ 27 au) at ~48 au from the central star. This gap is consistent with images reported in previous studies. We also confirmed the existence of a bright inner disk with a misaligned position angle of 13° ±4° with respect to that of the outer disk, i.e., the inner disk is possibly warped. The large gap and the warped inner disk both point to the existence of a multiple planetary system with a mass of ≲ 1 M Jup.

Characterization of the transmitted near-infrared wavefront error for the GRAVITY/VLTI Coudé Infrared Adaptive Optics System.

The adaptive optics system for the second-generation VLT-interferometer (VLTI) instrument GRAVITY consists of a novel cryogenic near-infrared wavefront sensor to be installed at each of the four unit telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Feeding the GRAVITY wavefront sensor with light in the 1.4 to 2.4 micrometer band, while suppressing laser light originating from the GRAVITY metrology system, custom-built optical components are required. In this paper, we present the development of a quantitative near-infrared point diffraction interferometric characterization technique, which allows measuring the transmitted wavefront error of the silicon entrance windows of the wavefront sensor cryostat. The technique can be readily applied to quantitative phase measurements in the near-infrared regime. Moreover, by employing a slightly off-axis optical setup, the proposed method can optimize the required spatial resolution and enable real time measurement capabilities. The feasibility of the proposed setup is demonstrated, followed by theoretical analysis and experimental results. Our experimental results show that the phase error repeatability in the nanometer regime can be achieved.

A dynamical calibration of the mass-luminosity relation at very low stellar masses and young ages.

Mass is the most fundamental parameter of a star, yet it is also one of the most difficult to measure directly. In general, astronomers estimate stellar masses by determining the luminosity and using the 'mass-luminosity' relationship, but this relationship has never been accurately calibrated for young, low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. Masses for these low-mass objects are therefore constrained only by theoretical models. A new high-contrast adaptive optics camera enabled the discovery of a young (50 million years) companion only 0.156 arcseconds (2.3 au) from the more luminous (> 120 times brighter) star AB Doradus A. Here we report a dynamical determination of the mass of the newly resolved low-mass companion AB Dor C, whose mass is 0.090 +/- 0.005 solar masses. Given its measured 1-2-micrometre luminosity, we have found that the standard mass-luminosity relations overestimate the near-infrared luminosity of such objects by about a factor of approximately 2.5 at young ages. The young, cool objects hitherto thought to be substellar in mass are therefore about twice as massive, which means that the frequency of brown dwarfs and planetary mass objects in young stellar clusters has been overestimated.

Atmosphere-like turbulence generation with surface-etched phase-screens.

We built and characterized an optical system that emulates the optical characteristics of an 8m-class telescope like the Very Large Telescope. The system contains rotating glass phase-screens to generate realistic atmosphere-like optical turbulence, as needed for testing multiconjugate adaptive optics systems. In this paper we present an investigation of the statistical properties of two phase-screens etched on glass-plate surfaces, obtained from Silios Technologies. Those etched screens are highly transmissive (above 85%) from 0.45 to 2.5 microm. From direct imaging, their Fried parameter r0 values (0.43+/-0.04 microm and 0.81+/-0.03 microm, respectively, at 0.633 microm) agree with the expectation to within 10%. This is also confirmed by a comparison of measured and expected Zernike coefficient variances. Overall, we find that those screens are quite reproducible, allowing sub-millimetre r0 values, which were difficult to achieve in the past. We conclude that the telescope emulator and phase-screens form a powerful atmospheric turbulence generator allowing systematic testing of different kinds of AO instrumentation.

High-Contrast Imaging of Intermediate-Mass Giants with Long-Term Radial Velocity Trends.

A radial velocity (RV) survey for intermediate-mass giants has been operated for over a decade at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory (OAO). The OAO survey has revealed that some giants show long-term linear RV accelerations (RV trends), indicating the presence of outer companions. Direct imaging observations can help clarify what objects generate these RV trends. We present the results of high-contrast imaging observations of six intermediate-mass giants with long-term RV trends using the Subaru Telescope and HiCIAO camera. We detected co-moving companions to γ Hya B ( 0.61 - 0.14 + 0.12 M ⊙ ) , HD 5608 B (0.10 ± 0.01M ⊙), and HD 109272 B (0.28 ± 0.06M ⊙). For the remaining targets(ι Dra, 18 Del, and HD 14067) we exclude companions more massive than 30-60 M Jup at projected separations of 1''-7''. We examine whether these directly imaged companions or unidentified long-period companions can account for the RV trends observed around the six giants. We find that the Kozai mechanism can explain the high eccentricity of the inner planets ι Dra b, HD 5608 b, and HD 14067 b.