|
Description
Although more than 2000 brown dwarfs have been detected to date, mainly from direct imaging, their characterisation is difficult due to their faintness and model dependent results. In the case of transiting brown dwarfs it is, however, possible to make direct high precision observations. Our aim is to investigate the nature and formation of brown dwarfs by adding a new well-characterised object, in term of its mass, radius and bulk density, to the currently small sample of less than 20 transiting brown dwarfs. One brown dwarf candidate was found by the KESPRINT consortium when searching for exoplanets in the K2 space mission Campaign 16 field. We combined the K2 photometric data with a series of multi-colour photometric observations, imaging and radial velocity measurements to rule out false positive scenarios and to determine the fundamental properties of the system. We report the discovery and characterisation of a transiting brown dwarf in a 5.17 day eccentric orbit around the slightly evolved F7V star EPIC 212036875. EPIC 212036875b is a rare object that resides in the brown dwarf desert. In the mass-density diagram for planets, brown dwarfs and stars, we find that all giant planets and brown dwarfs follow the same trend from 0.3M_J_ to the turn-over to hydrogen burning stars at 73M_J_. EPIC 212036875b falls on the theoretical line for H/He dominated planets in this diagram as determined by interior structure models, as well as on the empirical fit. We argue that EPIC 212036875b formed via gravitational disc instabilities in the outer part of the disc, followed by a quick migration. Orbital tidal circularisation may have started early in its history for a brief period when the brown dwarf's radius was larger. The lack of spin-orbit synchronisation points to a weak stellar dissipation parameter which implies a circularisation timescale of 23Gyr, or suggests an interaction between the magnetic and tidal forces of the star and the brown dwarf.
|
