We report the discovery of a low-mass companion orbiting the metal-rich , main sequence F star TYC 2949-00557-1 during the MARVELS ( Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey ) Pilot Project .
The host star has an effective temperature T _ { eff } = 6135 \pm 40 ~ { } { K } , { log } g = 4.4 \pm 0.1 and [ Fe/H ] = 0.32 \pm 0.01 , indicating a mass of M = 1.25 \pm 0.09 ~ { } M _ { \odot } and R = 1.15 \pm 0.15 ~ { } R _ { \odot } .
The companion has an orbital period of 5.69449 \pm 0.00023 days and straddles the hydrogen burning limit with a minimum mass of 64 M _ { J } , and may thus be an example of the rare class of brown dwarfs orbiting at distances comparable to those of “ Hot Jupiters. ” We present relative photometry that demonstrates the host star is photometrically stable at the few millimagnitude level on time scales of hours to years , and rules out transits for a companion of radius \gtrsim 0.8 ~ { } R _ { J } at the 95 \% confidence level .
Tidal analysis of the system suggests that the star and companion are likely in a double synchronous state where both rotational and orbital synchronization have been achieved .
This is the first low-mass companion detected with a multi-object , dispersed , fixed-delay interferometer .