English

Extremely faint high proper motion objects from SDSS stripe 82 - Optical classification spectroscopy of about 40 new objects

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

(abridged) Deep multi-epoch Sloan Digital Sky Survey data in a 275 square degrees area along the celestial equator (SDSS stripe 82 = S82) allowed us to search for extremely faint (i>21i>21) objects with proper motions larger than 0.14 arcsec/yr. We classify 38 newly detected objects with low-resolution optical spectroscopy using FORS1 @ ESO VLT. All 22 previously known L dwarfs in S82 have been detected in our high proper motion survey. However, 11 of the known L dwarfs have smaller proper motions (0.01<<μ\mu<<0.14 arcsec/yr). Although S82 was already one of the best investigated sky regions with respect to L and T dwarfs, we are able to classify 13 new L dwarfs. We have also found eight new M7.5-M9.5 dwarfs. Four new cool white dwarfs (CWDs) discovered by us are about 1-2 mag fainter than those previously detected in SDSS data. All new L-type, late-M and CWD objects show thick disk and halo kinematics. There are 13 objects, mostly with uncertain proper motions, which we initially classified as mid-M dwarfs. Among them we have found 9 with an alternative subdwarf classification (sdM7 or earlier types), whereas we have not found any new spectra resembling the known ultracool (>>sdM7) subdwarfs. Some M subdwarf candidates have been classified based on spectral indices with large uncertainties. We failed to detect new nearby (d<50d<50 pc) L dwarfs, probably because the S82 area was already well-investigated before. With our survey we have demonstrated a higher efficiency in finding Galactic halo CWDs than previous searches. The space density of halo CWDs is according to our results about 1.5-3.0 ×\times 105^{-5} pc3^{-3}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0812.1495,
  title  = {Extremely faint high proper motion objects from SDSS stripe 82 - Optical classification spectroscopy of about 40 new objects},
  author = {R. -D. Scholz and J. Storm and G. R. Knapp and H. Zinnecker},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0812.1495},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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