Related papers: Ultracool Subdwarfs: The Halo Population Down to t…
Precise measurements of the fundamental properties of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs are key to understanding the physics underlying their formation and evolution. While there has been great progress over the last decade in studying the…
The lowest luminosity (L < 10^5 L_sun) Milky Way satellite galaxies represent the extreme lower limit of the galaxy luminosity function. These ultra-faint dwarfs are the oldest, most dark matter-dominated, most metal-poor, and least…
Metallicity is a fundamental parameter that contributes to the physical characteristics of a star. However, the low temperatures and complex molecules present in M dwarf atmospheres make it difficult to measure their metallicities using…
We have conducted a search for L subdwarf candidates within the photometric catalogues of the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Six of our candidates are confirmed as L subdwarfs spectroscopically at optical…
We present the discovery of the first L-type subdwarf, 2MASS J05325346+8246465. This object exhibits enhanced collision-induced H$_2$ absorption, resulting in blue NIR colors ($J-K_s = 0.26{\pm}0.16$). In addition, strong hydride bands in…
We present the first far-red spectra of the L subdwarf 2MASS J16262034+3925190 and the late M/early L subdwarf 2MASS J16403197+1231068. We confirm the ultracool subdwarf nature of these objects. 2M1626+3925 shows strong K I absorption, like…
Observational facilities allow now the detection of optical and IR spectra of young M- and L-dwarfs. This enables empirical comparisons with old M- and L- dwarfs, and detailed studies in comparison with synthetic spectra. While classical…
We present new infrared photometry for 61 halo and disk stars around the stellar/substellar boundary. These data are combined with available optical photometry and astrometric data to produce color--color and absolute magnitude--color…
We present Gemini GMOS and Magellan LDSS-3 optical spectroscopy for seven ultracool subdwarf candidates color-selected from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Five are identified as late-type subdwarfs, including the previously reported sdM9.5…
We review recent advancements in modeling the stellar to substellar transition. The revised molecular opacities, solar oxygen abundances and cloud models allow to reproduce the photometric and spectroscopic properties of this transition to…
White dwarfs are among the most common objects in the stellar halo; however, due to their low luminosity and low number density compared to the stars in the discs of the Milky Way, they are scarce in the observable volume. Hence, they are…
Ultracool dwarf stars and brown dwarfs provide a unique probe of large-scale Galactic structure and evolution; however, until recently spectroscopic samples of sufficient size, depth, and fidelity have been unavailable. Here, we present the…
We report parallax measurements for 70 ultracool dwarfs (UCDs). Using both literature values and our sample, we report new polynomial relations between spectral type and M$_{JHK}$. Including resolved L/T transition binaries in the…
We report dynamical mass measurements for the components of the previously known double-lined spectroscopic subdwarfs G 006-026 B and C using the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. To build the empirical…
The observed luminosity function (LF) of satellite galaxies shows several interesting features that require a better understanding of gas-thermodynamic processes and feedback effects related to reionization and galaxy formation. In galaxy…
Recent observations show that chromospheric activity in late-M and L dwarfs is much lower than in the earlier M types, in spite of comparatively rapid rotation. We investigate the possibility that this drop-off in activity results from the…
Microlensing events observed in the line of sight toward the LMC indicate that a significant fraction of the mass of the dark halo of the Galaxy is probably composed of white dwarfs. In addition, white dwarf sequences have now be observed…
We present spectroscopic observations of two halo M subdwarfs which have H alpha emission lines. We show that in both cases close companions are the most likely cause of the chromospheric activity in these old, metal-poor stars. We argue…
We examine the relationship between metallicity and $J-K$ color for 64 benchmark late-M and L dwarfs, all of which are wide companions to higher mass stars, and 6 of which are new discoveries. We assess the correlation between the…
Low-mass objects are ubiquitous in our Galaxy. Their low temperature provides them with complex atmospheres characterised by the presence of strong molecular absorption bands which, together with their faintness, have made their accurate…