SCExAO/CHARIS Near-infrared Direct Imaging, Spectroscopy, and Forward-Modeling of κ And b: A Likely Young, Low-gravity Superjovian Companion

We present SCExAO/CHARIS high-contrast imaging/ JHK integral field spectroscopy of κ And b, a directly imaged low-mass companion orbiting a nearby B9V star. We detect κ And b at a high signal-to-noise ratio and extract high-precision spectrophotometry using a new forward-modeling algorithm for (A-)LOCI complementary to KLIP-FM developed by Pueyo et al. κ And b’s spectrum best resembles that of a low-gravity L0–L1 dwarf (L0–L1 γ ). Its spectrum and luminosity are very well matched by 2MASS J0141-4633 and several other 12.5–15 M J free-floating members of the 40 Myr old Tuc–Hor Association, consistent with a system age derived from recent interferometric results for the primary, a companion mass at/near the deuterium-burning limit ( M J ), and a companion-to-primary mass ratio characteristic of other directly imaged planets ( q ∼ ). We did not unambiguously identify additional, more closely orbiting companions brighter and more massive than κ And b down to ρ ∼ 0.″3 (15 au). SCExAO/CHARIS and complementary Keck/NIRC2 astrometric points reveal clockwise orbital motion. Modeling points toward a likely eccentric orbit: a subset of acceptable orbits include those that are aligned with the star’s rotation axis. However, κ And b’s semimajor axis is plausibly larger than 55 au and in a region where disk instability could form massive companions. Deeper high-contrast imaging of κ And and low-resolution spectroscopy from extreme adaptive optics systems such as SCExAO/CHARIS and higher-resolution spectroscopy from Keck/OSIRIS or, later, IRIS on the Thirty Meter Telescope could help to clarify κ And b’s chemistry and whether its spectrum provides an insight into its formation environment.