New constraints on the membership of the T dwarf S Ori 70 in the sigma Orionis cluster

TL;DR

This study investigates whether S Ori 70 is a young planetary-mass member of the sigma Orionis cluster or a field brown dwarf, using new infrared photometry and proper motion data to support its cluster membership and low-mass status.

Contribution

The paper provides new infrared photometry and proper motion measurements that support S Ori 70's membership in sigma Orionis and its status as a low-mass planetary object.

Findings

S Ori 70 has a proper motion consistent with the sigma Orionis cluster.

Infrared colors suggest a low-gravity atmosphere, indicating youth.

Estimated mass of S Ori 70 is between 2 and 7 Jupiter masses.

Abstract

(Abridged) The nature of S Ori 70, a faint mid-T type object found towards the direction of the young sigma Orionis cluster, is still under debate. We intend to disentangle whether it is a field brown dwarf or a 3-Myr old planetary-mass member of the cluster. We report on near-infrared JHK_s and mid-infrared [3.6] and [4.5] IRAC/Spitzer photometry recently obtained for S Ori 70. The new near-infrared images (taken 3.82 yr after the discovery data) have allowed us to derive a very small proper motion (11.0 +/- 5.9 mas/yr) for this object, which is consistent with the proper motion of the cluster within 1.5 sigma the astrometric uncertainty. The colors (H-K_s), (J-K_s) and K_s-[3.6] appear discrepant when compared to T4-T7 dwarfs in the field. This behavior could be ascribed to a low-gravity atmosphere or alternatively to an atmosphere with a metallicity significantly different than solar. Taking into account the small proper motion of S Ori 70 and its new near- and mid-infrared colors, a low-gravity atmosphere remains as the most likely explanation to account for our observations. This supports S Ori 70's membership in sigma Orionis, with an estimated mass in the interval 2-7 Mjup, in agreement with our previous derivation.