The OATMEAL Survey. II. The 3D spin-orbit obliquity of an eccentric transiting brown dwarf in the Ruprecht 147 open cluster

TL;DR

This study measures the 3D spin-orbit obliquity of a transiting brown dwarf in the Ruprecht 147 cluster, revealing a well-aligned orbit and providing insights into formation and migration mechanisms distinct from giant planets.

Contribution

First measurement of the 3D spin-orbit obliquity of a transiting brown dwarf in a cluster, highlighting differences from giant planet alignment trends.

Findings

Brown dwarf's orbit is prograde and well-aligned with host star.

Supports the trend of brown dwarfs having aligned orbits regardless of stellar temperature.

Suggests possible coplanar high-eccentricity migration influenced by a companion star.

Abstract

We present new analysis of the CWW 89 system as part of the Orbital Architectures of Transiting Massive Exoplanets And Low-mass stars (OATMEAL) survey. The CWW 89 system is a member of the 2.8 Gyr old Ruprecht 147 (NGC 6774) cluster and features two stars, CWW 89A (EPIC 219388192) and CWW 89B, with the primary hosting a transiting brown dwarf. We use in-transit, highly precise radial velocity measurements with the Keck Planet Finder (KPF) to characterize the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect and measure the projected spin-orbit obliquity $|\lambda|=1.4\pm2.5^\circ$ and the full 3D spin-orbit obliquity of the brown dwarf to be $\psi=15.1^{+15.0^\circ}_{-10.9}$. This value of $\lambda$ implies that the brown dwarf's orbit is prograde and well-aligned with the equator of the host star, continuing the trend of transiting brown dwarfs showing a preference for alignment ($\lambda \approx 0^\circ$) regardless of the stellar effective temperature. We find that this contrast with the transiting giant planet population, whose spin-orbit alignments depend on host $T_{\rm eff}$, shows an increasingly clear distinction in the formation and orbital migration mechanisms between transiting giant planets and transiting brown dwarfs like CWW 89Ab. For this system in particular, we find it plausible that the brown dwarf may have undergone coplanar high-eccentricity migration influence by CWW 89B.