Related papers: Clouds, Brightening and Multiplicity Across the L …
Clouds of metal-bearing condensates play a critical role in shaping the emergent spectral energy distributions of the coolest classes of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, L and T dwarfs. Because condensate clouds in planetary atmospheres…
The transition between the L dwarf and T dwarf spectral classes is one of the most remarkable along the stellar/brown dwarf Main Sequence, separating sources with photospheres containing mineral condensate clouds from those containing…
The color-magnitude (CM) diagram of cool dwarfs and brown dwarfs based on the recent astrometry data is compared with the CM diagram transformed from the theoretical evolutionary tracks via the unified cloudy models (UCMs) of L and T…
One of the mechanisms suggested for the L to T dwarf spectral type transition is the appearance of relatively cloud-free regions across the disk of brown dwarfs as they cool. The existence of partly cloudy regions has been supported by…
We present new evolution sequences for very low mass stars, brown dwarfs and giant planets and use them to explore a variety of influences on the evolution of these objects. We compare our results with previous work and discuss the causes…
Context: L-type ultra-cool dwarfs and brown dwarfs have cloudy atmospheres that could host weather-like phenomena. The detection of photometric or spectral variability would provide insight into unresolved atmospheric heterogeneities, such…
We present a new suite of atmosphere models with flexible cloud parameters to investigate the effects of clouds on brown dwarfs across the L/T transition. We fit these models to a sample of 13 objects with well-known masses, distances, and…
Current atmospheric models cannot reproduce some of the characteristics of the transition between the L dwarfs with cloudy atmospheres and the T dwarfs with dust-depleted photospheres. It has been proposed that a majority of the L/T…
Recent discoveries of variable brown dwarfs have provided us with a new window into their three-dimensional cloud structure. The highest variables are found at the L/T transition, where the cloud cover is thought to break up, but…
High-resolution imaging has revealed an unusually high binary fraction amongst objects spanning the transition between the L dwarf and T dwarf spectral classes. In an attempt to reproduce and unravel the origins of this apparent binary…
Most directly imaged giant exoplanets are fainter than brown dwarfs with similar spectra. To explain their relative underluminosity unusually cloudy atmospheres have been proposed. However, with multiple parameters varying between any two…
We present multiple-epoch photometric monitoring in the $J$, $H$, and $K_s$ bands of the T1.5 dwarf 2MASS J21392676+0220226 (2M2139), revealing persistent, periodic ($P=7.721\pm$0.005 hr) variability with a peak-to-peak amplitude as high as…
Condensate clouds strongly impact the spectra of brown dwarfs and exoplanets. Recent discoveries of variable L/T transition dwarfs argued for patchy clouds in at least some ultracool atmospheres. This study aims to measure the frequency and…
The admitted, conventional scenario to explain the complex spectral evolution of brown dwarfs (BD) since their first detections twenty years ago, has always been the key role played by micron-size condensates, called "dust" or "clouds", in…
A sophisticated approach to condensate opacity is required to properly model the atmospheres of L and T dwarfs. Here we review different models for the treatment of condensates in brown dwarf atmospheres. We conclude that models which…
[ABRIDGED] We report the results of a $J$ band search for cloud-related variability in the atmospheres of 62 L4-T9 dwarfs using the Du Pont 2.5-m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. We…
Brown dwarfs of a variety of spectral types have been observed to be photometrically variable. Previous studies have focused on objects at the L/T transition, where the iron and silicate clouds in L dwarfs break up or dissipate. However,…
We present new JHKL'M' photometry on the MKO system for a large sample of L and T dwarfs identified from SDSS and 2MASS and classified according to the scheme of Geballe et al. (2002). We have compiled a sample of 105 L and T dwarfs that…
The new spectroscopic classes, L and T, are defined by the role of dust clouds in their atmospheres, the former by their presence and the latter by their removal and near absence. Moreover, the M to L and L to T transitions are intimately…
We report the discovery of a photometric variability in the bright T2.5 brown dwarf SIMP J013656.5+093347. Continuous J-band photometry has been obtained for several hours on four different nights. The light curves show a periodic…