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Description
We present the results of a direct imaging survey for very large separation (>100 AU), low-mass companions around 95 nearby young K5-L5 stars and brown dwarfs. They are high-likelihood candidates or confirmed members of the young (~<150 Myr) {beta} Pictoris and AB Doradus moving groups (ABDMG) and the TW Hya, Tucana-Horologium, Columba, Carina, and Argus associations. Images in i' and z' filters were obtained with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South to search for companions down to an apparent magnitude of z'~22-24 at separations >~20" from the targets and in the remainder of the wide 5.5'x5.5' GMOS field of view. This allowed us to probe the most distant region where planetary-mass companions could be gravitationally bound to the targets. This region was left largely unstudied by past high-contrast imaging surveys, which probed much closer-in separations. This survey led to the discovery of a planetary-mass (9-13 M_Jup_) companion at 2000 AU from the M3V star GU Psc, a highly probable member of ABDMG. No other substellar companions were identified. These results allowed us to constrain the frequency of distant planetary-mass companions (5-13 M_Jup_) to 0.84_-0.66_^+6.73^% (95% confidence) at semimajor axes between 500 and 5000 AU around young K5-L5 stars and brown dwarfs. This is consistent with other studies suggesting that gravitationally bound planetary-mass companions at wide separations from low-mass stars are relatively rare.
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