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Oxford University Press, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3(514), p. 3160-3178, 2022

DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac1412

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A 1.46–2.48 μm spectroscopic atlas of a T6 dwarf (1060 K) atmosphere with IGRINS: first detections of H2S and H2, and verification of H2O, CH4, and NH3 line lists

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present Gemini South/IGRINS observations of the 1060 K T6 dwarf 2MASS J08173001−6155158 with unprecedented resolution ($R≡ λ /Δ λ =45\, 000$) and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N > 200) for a late-type T dwarf. We use this benchmark observation to test the reliability of molecular line lists used up-to-date atmospheric models. We determine which spectroscopic regions should be used to estimate the parameters of cold brown dwarfs and, by extension, exoplanets. We present a detailed spectroscopic atlas with molecular identifications across the H and K bands of the near-infrared. We find that water (H2O) line lists are overall reliable. We find the most discrepancies amongst older methane (CH4) line lists, and that the most up-to-date CH4 line lists correct many of these issues. We identify individual ammonia (NH3) lines, a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) feature at 1.5900 $μ$m, and a molecular hydrogen (H2) feature at 2.1218 $μ$m. These are the first unambiguous detections of H2S and H2 absorption features in an extra-solar atmosphere. With the H2 detection, we place an upper limit on the atmospheric dust concentration of this T6 dwarf: at least 500 times less than the interstellar value, implying that the atmosphere is effectively dust-free. We additionally identify several features that do not appear in the model spectra. Our assessment of the line lists is valuable for atmospheric model applications to high-dispersion, low-S/N, high-background spectra, such as an exoplanet around a star. We demonstrate a significant enhancement in the detection of the CH4 absorption signal in this T6 dwarf with the most up-to-date line lists.