DETECTION OF A TERTIARY BROWN DWARF COMPANION IN THE sdB-TYPE ECLIPSING BINARY HS 0705+6700

HS 0705+6700 is a short-period (P = 2.3 hr), close binary containing a hot sdB-type primary and a fully convective secondary. We have monitored this eclipsing binary for more than two years and as a result, 32 times of light minimum were obtained. Based on our new eclipse times together with these compiled from the literature, it is discovered that the observed-calculated curve of HS 0705+6700 shows a cyclic variation with a period of 7.15 years and a semiamplitude of 92.4 s. The periodic change was analyzed for the light-travel time effect that may be due to the presence of a tertiary companion. The mass of the third body is determined to be M 3sin i' = 0.0377(±0.0043) M sun when a total mass of 0.617 M sun for HS 0705+6700 is adopted. For orbital inclinations i' ≥ 32.08, the mass of the tertiary component would be below the stable hydrogen-burning limit of M 3 ∼ 0.072 M sun, and thus it would be a brown dwarf. The third body is orbiting the sdB-type binary at a distance shorter than 3.6 AU. HS 0705+6700 was formed through the evolution of a common envelope after the primary becomes a red giant. The detection of a substellar companion in HS 0705+6700 system at this distance from the binary could give some constraints on stellar evolution in such systems and the interactions between red giants and their companions.