Identifying and characterizing ultracool dwarfs ejected from post-encounter disintegrating systems

Abstract

Disintegrating multiple systems have been previously discovered from kinematic studies of the $Hipparcos$ catalogue. They are presumably the result of dynamical encounters taking place in the Galactic disk between single/multiple systems. In this paper, we aim to expand the search for such systems, to study their properties, as well as to characterize possible low-mass ejecta (i.e. brown dwarfs and planets). We have assembled a list of 15 candidate systems using astrometry from the Tycho-Gaia astrometric solution (later upgraded with $Gaia$ DR3), and here we present the discovery and follow-up of 5 of them. We have obtained DECam imaging for all 5 systems and by combining near-infrared photometry and proper motion, we searched for ultra-cool ejected components. We find that the system consisting of TYC 7731-1951-1, TYC 7731-2128 AB, and TYC 7731-1995-1ABC?, contains one very promising ultra-cool dwarf candidate. Using additional data from the literature, we have found that 3 out of 5 disintegrating system candidates are likely to be true disintegrating systems.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 17 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables

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