OGLE-2016-BLG-1266: A Probable Brown-Dwarf/Planet Binary at the Deuterium Fusion Limit

Abstract

We report the discovery, via the microlensing method, of a new very-low-mass binary system. By combining measurements from Earth and from the Spitzer telescope in Earth-trailing orbit, we are able to measure the microlensing parallax of the event, and find that the lens likely consists of an $(12.0\pm 0.6)M_{\mathrm{J}}$ + $(15.7\pm 1.5)M_{\mathrm{J}}$ super-Jupiter / brown-dwarf pair. The binary is located at a distance of $(3.08\pm 0.18)$ kpc in the Galactic Plane, and the components have a projected separation of $(0.43\pm 0.03)$ AU. Two alternative solutions with much lower likelihoods are also discussed, an 8- and 6-$M_{\mathrm{J}}$ model and a 90- and 70-$M_{\mathrm{J}}$ model. Although disfavored at the 3-$\sigma$ and 5-$\sigma$ levels, these alternatives cannot be rejected entirely. We show how the more-massive of these models could be tested with future direct imaging.

23 pages, 7 figures, submitted to AAS Journals