The Formation of Brown Dwarfs: Observations
Abstract
We review the current state of observational work on the formation of brown dwarfs, focusing on their initial mass function, velocity and spatial distributions at birth, multiplicity, accretion, and circumstellar disks. The available measurements of these various properties are consistent with a common formation mechanism for brown dwarfs and stars. In particular, the existence of widely separated binary brown dwarfs and a probable isolated proto-brown dwarf indicate that some substellar objects are able to form in the same manner as stars through unperturbed cloud fragmentation. Additional mechanisms such as ejection and photoevaporation may play a role in the birth of some brown dwarfs, but there is no observational evidence to date to suggest that they are the key elements that make it possible for substellar bodies to form.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0608546,
title = {The Formation of Brown Dwarfs: Observations},
author = {Kevin L. Luhman and Viki Joergens and Charles Lada and James Muzerolle and Ilaria Pascucci and Russel White},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0608546},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Protostars and Planets V, in press