We combine new Lucky Imaging astrometry from New Technology Telescope /AstraLux Sur with already published astrometry from the AstraLux Large M-dwarf Multiplicity Survey to compute orbital elements and individual masses of the 2MASS J10364483 + 1521394 triple system belonging to the Ursa-Major moving group. The system consists of one primary low-mass M-dwarf orbited by two less massive companions, for which we determine a combined dynamical mass of MB+C = 0 : 48 +/- 0 : 14 M-circle dot. We show from the companions' relative motions that they are of equal mass (with a mass ratio of 1 : 00 +/- 0 : 03), thus 0 : 24 +/- 0 : 07 M-circle dot individually, with a separation of 3 : 2 +/- 0 : 3 AU, and we conclude that these masses are significantly higher (30%) than what is predicted by theoretical stellar evolutionary models. The biggest uncertainty remains the distance to the system, here adopted as 20 : 1 +/- 2 : 0 pc based on trigonometric parallax, whose ambiguity has a major impact on the result. With the new observational data we are able to conclude that the orbital period of the BC pair is 8.4(-0.021)(+0.04) yr.

The relationship between luminosity and mass is of fundamental importance for direct imaging studies of brown dwarf and planetary companions to stars. In principle this can be inferred from theoretical mass-luminosity models; however, these relations have not yet been thoroughly calibrated, since there is a lack of substellar companions for which both the brightness and mass have been directly measured. One notable exception is GJ 758 B, a brown dwarf companion in a similar to 20 AU orbit around a nearby Sun-like star, which has been both directly imaged and dynamically detected through a radial velocity trend in the primary. This has enabled a mass constraint for GJ 758 B of 42(-7)(+19) M-Jup. Here, we note that Gaia is ideally suited for further constraining the mass of intermediate-separation companions such as GJ 758 B. A study of the differential proper motion, Delta mu, with regards to HIPPARCOS is particularly useful in this context, as it provides a long time baseline for orbital curvature to occur. By exploiting already determined orbital parameters, we show that the dynamical mass can be further constrained to 42.4(-5.0)(+5.6) M-Jup through the Gaia-HIPPARCOS Delta mu motion. We compare the new dynamical mass estimate with substellar evolutionary models and confirm previous indications that there is significant tension between the isochronal ages of the star and companion, with a preferred stellar age of <= 5 Gyr while the companion is only consistent with very old ages of >= 8 Gyr.

We observe 14 young low-mass substellar objects using the VLT/SINFONI integral field spectrograph with laser guide star adaptive optics to detect and characterize three candidate binary systems. All three binary candidates show strong signs of youth, with two of them likely belonging to young moving groups. Together with the adopted young-moving-group ages we employ isochrones from the BT-Settle CIFIST substellar evolutionary models to estimate individual masses for the binary components. We find 2MASS J15104786-2818174 to be part of the approximate to 30-50 Myr Argus moving group and to be composed of a 34-48 M-Jup primary brown dwarf with spectral type M9 gamma and a fainter 15 22 MJup companion, separated by approximate to 100 mas. 2MASS J22025794-5605087 is identified as an almost equal-mass binary in the AB Dor moving group, with a projected separation of approximate to 60 mas. Both components share spectral type M9 gamma/beta, which with the adopted age of 120 200 Myr yields masses in the range of 50 68 M-Jup for each component individually. The observations of 2MASS J15474719-2423493 are of lower quality and we obtain no spectral characterization for the target, but resolve two components separated by approximate to 170 mas which with the predicted young field age of 30 50 Myr yields individual masses below 20 M-Jup. Out of the three candidate binary systems, 2MASS J22025794-5605087 has unambiguous spectroscopic signs of being a bona-fide binary, while the other two will require second-epoch confirmation. The small projected separations between the binary components correspond to physical separations of approximate to 4-7AU, meaning that astrometric monitoring of just a few years would be adequate to generate constrained orbital fits and dynamical masses for the systems. In combination with their young ages, these binaries will prove to be excellent benchmarks for calibrating substellar evolutionary models down to a very low-mass regime.

We present the results from an integral field spectroscopy study of seven close visual binary pairs of young M-dwarf multiple systems. The target systems are part of the astrometric monitoring AstraLux program, surveying hundreds of M-dwarf systems for multiplicity and obtaining astrometric epochs for orbital constraints. Our new VLT/SINFONI data provides resolved spectral type classification in the J, H and K bands for seven of these low-mass M-dwarf binaries, which we determine by comparing them to empirical templates and examining the strength of water absorption in the K-band. The medium resolution K-band spectra also allows us to derive effective temperatures for the individual components. All targets in the survey display several signs of youth, and some have kinematics similar to young moving groups, or low surface gravities which we determine from measuring equivalent widths of gravity sensitive alkali lines in the J-band. Resolved photometry from our targets is also compared with isochrones from theoretical evolutionary models, further implying young ages. Dynamical masses will be provided from ongoing monitoring of these systems, which can be seen as emblematic binary benchmarks that may be used to calibrate evolutionary models for low-mass stars in the future.