Work

An Ultra-hot Low-mass Brown Dwarf Eclipsing the Puffy White Dwarf J0404+1112

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Most exoplanets known orbit stars that will evolve into red giants, then white dwarfs (WDs). Understanding the population of substellar WD companions informs the common-envelope evolution process (E. Villaver & M. Livio 2009), thereby shedding light on the current and future planetary population of the Milky Way. Here, we report the discovery of a low-mass (25 ± 5M Jup) brown dwarf (BD) fully eclipsing every 2.93 hr the WD J0404+1112, which we found to be an unexpectedly large host WD (2R Earth). The eclipsing nature of the system, the low masses of the primary (∼0.3M Sun) and secondary, and the large day–night temperature contrast for the BD ( ⪭ 2000 K) make it a prime target amongst the dozen WD+BD systems known for a detailed study via JWST phase-curve observations.

Source: Research Notes of the AAS

DOI: 10.3847/2515-5172/ae1228

Authors: J. de Wit, R. Alonso, B. V. Rackham, S. M. Lederer, A. Y. Burdanov, K. Barkaoui, M. Albornoz, T. Cavalier, M. Gillon, A. H. M. J. Triaud, A. Boogert, M. Timmermans

Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Universidad de La Laguna, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Johnson Space Center, University of Liège, University of Florida, University of Birmingham, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Language: English

Topic: Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS

OpenAlex ID: W4415177917

FWCI: 0.904

Cites: 8

Cited by: 2

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