Wide companions to M and L subdwarfs with Gaia and the Virtual Observatory

Abstract

Aims: The aim of the project is to identify wide common proper motion companions to a sample of spectroscopically confirmed M and L metal-poor dwarfs (also known as subdwarfs) to investigate the impact of metallicity on the binary fraction of low-mass metal-poor binaries and to improve the determination of their metallicity from the higher-mass binary. Methods. We made use of Virtual Observatory tools and large-scale public surveys to look in Gaia for common proper motion companions to a well-defined sample of ultracool subdwarfs with spectral types later than M5 and metallicities below or equal to −0.5 dex. We collected low-resolution optical spectroscopy for our best system, which is a binary composed of one sdM1.5 subdwarf and one sdM5.5 subdwarf located at ∼1 360 au, and for another two likely systems separated by more than 115 000 au. Results. We confirm one wide companion to an M subdwarf, and infer a multiplicity for M subdwarfs (sdMs) of 1.0^(+2.0)_(−1.0) % for projected physical separations of up to 743 000 au. We also find four M–L systems, three of which are new detections. No colder companion was identified in any of the 219 M and L subdwarfs of the sample, mainly because of limitations on the detection of faint sources with Gaia. We infer a frequency of wide systems for sdM5–9.5 of 0.60^(+1.17)_(−0.60)% for projected physical separations larger than 1 360 au (up to 142 400 au). This study shows a multiplicity rate of 1.0^(+2.0)_(−1.0)% in sdMs, and 1.9^(+3.7)_(−1.9)% in extreme M subdwarfs (esdMs). We did not find any companion for the ultra M subdwarfs (usdMs) of our sample, establishing an upper limit of 5.3% on binarity for these objects.