SOLES XII. The Aligned Orbit of TOI-2533 b, a Transiting Brown Dwarf Orbiting an F8-type Star

TL;DR

This study measures the orbital alignment of TOI-2533 b, a brown dwarf, revealing it is aligned with its star's rotation, and discusses implications for brown dwarf formation theories.

Contribution

First detailed spin-orbit alignment measurement of a brown dwarf around an F-type star, using Rossiter-McLaughlin effect data, expanding understanding of brown dwarf formation.

Findings

TOI-2533 b has a sky-projected obliquity of -7±14 degrees.

The brown dwarf's mass is near the hydrogen-burning minimum.

The system is consistent with formation via disc fragmentation.

Abstract

Brown dwarfs occupy a middle ground in mass space between gaseous giant planets and ultra-cool dwarf stars, and the characterisation of their orbital orientations may shed light on how these neighbouring objects form. We present an analysis of the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect across the transit of TOI-2533 $b$, a brown dwarf on a moderately eccentric ($e_b = 0.2476\pm0.0090$) and wide-separation ($a_b/R_\star = 13.34\pm0.30$) orbit around an F8-type star, using data from the NEID/WIYN spectrograph in combination with archival photometry and radial velocity observations. Spin-orbit analyses of brown dwarfs are relatively rare, and TOI-2533 stands out as the fifth brown dwarf system with a measured spin-orbit constraint. We derive a sky-projected stellar obliquity of $\lambda = -7\pm14^{\circ}$ for TOI-2533 $b$, finding that the brown dwarf is consistent with spin-orbit alignment. Our joint model also indicates that TOI-2533 $b$ falls near the lower bound of the hydrogen-burning minimum mass range (M$_b$ = $74.9\pm5.3$ M$_{\rm \tiny Jup}$). Ultimately, we find that TOI-2533 $b$ is consistent with formation from disc fragmentation in a primordially spin-orbit aligned orientation, although we cannot rule out the possibility that the system has been tidally realigned during its lifetime.