Related papers: Brown dwarf formation by gravitational fragmentati…
Accretion discs at sub-pc distances around supermassive black holes are likely to cool rapidly enough that self-gravity results in fragmentation. Here, we use high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of a simplified disc model to study how…
We use Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics to explore the circumstances under which an isolated very-low-mass prestellar core can be formed by colliding turbulent flows and collapse to form a brown-dwarf. Our simulations suggest that the flows…
The origin of highly-magnetized white dwarfs has remained a mystery since their initial discovery. Recent observations indicate that the formation of high-field magnetic white dwarfs is intimately related to strong binary interactions…
Planetary formation is an efficient process now thought to take place on a relatively short astronomical time scale. Recent observations have shown that the dust surrounding a protostar emits more efficiently at longer wavelengths as the…
The dominant formation mechanism of brown dwarfs and planetary mass objects in star-forming regions is presently uncertain. Do they form like stars, via the collapse and fragmentation of cores in Giant Molecular clouds, or do they form like…
In this paper, we use high-resolution smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations to investigate the response of a marginally stable self-gravitating protostellar disc to a close parabolic encounter with a companion discless star. Our…
In order to understand the atmospheres as well as the formation mechanism of giant planets formed outside our solar system, the next decade will require an investment in studies of isolated young brown dwarfs. In this white paper we…
It is now reasonably clear that disc fragmentation can only operate in the outer parts of protostellar discs ($r > 50$ au). It is also expected that any object that forms via disc fragmentation will have an initial mass greater than that of…
We report the statistical properties of stars, brown dwarfs and multiple systems obtained from the largest radiation hydrodynamical simulation of star cluster formation to date that resolves masses down to the opacity limit for…
After decades of brown dwarf discovery and follow-up, we can now infer the functional form of the mass distribution within 20 parsecs, which serves as a constraint on star formation theory at the lowest masses. Unlike objects on the main…
Disks around brown dwarfs (BDs) are excellent laboratories to study the first steps of planet formation in cold and low-mass disk conditions. The radial-drift velocities of dust particles in BD disks are higher than in disks around more…
Although discs of dust and gas have been observed orbiting white dwarfs, the origin of this circumstellar matter is uncertain. We hypothesize that the in-situ breakup of small bodies such as asteroids spun to fission during the giant branch…
It has been suggested that besides stellar companions, substellar objects in close orbits may be able to trigger mass loss in a common envelope phase and form hot subdwarfs. In an ongoing project we search for close substellar companions…
Brown dwarfs -- substellar bodies more massive than planets but not massive enough to initiate the sustained hydrogen fusion that powers self-luminous stars -- are born hot and slowly cool as they age. As they cool below about 2,300 K,…
The formation of low-mass protostars and especially of brown dwarfs currently are ``hot topics'' in cool star research. The talks contributed to this splinter session discussed how low in mass and how low in luminosity objects might exist,…
The detection of Earth-size exoplanets around low-mass stars -- in stars such as Proxima Centauri and TRAPPIST-1 -- provide an exceptional chance to improve our understanding of the formation of planets around M stars and brown dwarfs. We…
Aims : We want to investigate whether brown dwarfs (BDs) form like stars or are ejected embryos. We study the presence of disks around BDs in the Taurus cloud, and discuss implications for substellar formation models. Methods : We use…
We present the stellar and substellar mass function of the open cluster IC2391, plus its radial dependence, and use this to put constraints on the formation mechanism of brown dwarfs. Our multiband optical and infrared photometric survey…
We present the results of numerical simulations which show the formation of blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies from merging between very gas-rich dwarfs with extended HI gas disks. We show that dwarf-dwarf merging can trigger central…
Spirals and streamers are the hallmarks of mass accretion during the early stages of star formation. We present the first observations of a large-scale spiral and a streamer towards a very young brown dwarf candidate in its early formation…