Related papers: Testing Models with Brown Dwarf Binaries
The purpose of this work is to explore the evolution of helium-core white dwarf stars in a self-consistent way with the predictions of detailed non-gray model atmospheres and element diffusion. To this end, we consider helium-core white…
Three brown dwarfs in different evolutionary stages have been observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Combining the new observations with previous studies presented in the literature yields a brown dwarf sample that reaches well down…
We present a new sample of mid L to mid T dwarfs with effective temperatures of 1100 to 1700K selected from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey and confirmed with infrared spectra from X-Shooter/VLT. This effective temperature range is especially…
Over the past few years monitoring programs have shown ultra cool dwarfs (UCDs) to be photometrically variable. Of the 60 sources monitored in the field and some 120 monitored in clusters, about 40% show variability in both cases. For mid…
A long standing and unverified prediction of binary star evolution theory is the existence of a population of white dwarfs accreting from sub-stellar donor stars. Such systems ought to be common, but the difficulty of finding them, combined…
We present the results of a survey for stellar and substellar companions to 82 young stars in the nearby OB association Upper Scorpius. This survey used nonredundant aperture-mask interferometry to achieve typical contrast limits of…
Tight binaries discovered in young, nearby associations, with known distances, are ideal targets to provide dynamical mass measurements to test the physics of evolutionary models at young ages and very low masses. We report for the first…
We have determined astrometric positions for 15 WISE-discovered late-type brown dwarfs (6 T8-9 and 9 Y dwarfs) using the Keck II telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Hubble Space Telescope. Combining data from 8 to 20 epochs we…
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,…
We have combined multi-epoch images from the Infrared Side Port Imager on the CTIO 4-meter telescope to derive a 3-sigma limit of J=21.7 for the ultra cool brown dwarf companion to WD 0806-661 (GJ 3483). We find that J-[4.5]>4.95, redder…
The NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has discovered almost all the known members of the new class of Y-type brown dwarfs. Most of these Y dwarfs have been identified as isolated objects in the field. It is known that binaries…
We use near-infrared data obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope to identify objects having the colors of brown dwarfs (BDs) in the field of the massive galactic cluster NGC 3603. These are identified…
We present the results of a study to discover prospective new white dwarf-L dwarf binaries as identified by their near-infrared excesses in the UKIDSS catalogue. We obtained optical spectra to validate the white dwarf nature for 22 of the…
Mid-infrared data, including Spitzer warm-IRAC [3.6] and [4.5] photometry, is critical for understanding the cold population of brown dwarfs now being found, objects which have more in common with planets than stars. As effective…
We empirically determine effective temperatures and bolometric luminosities for a large sample of nearby M dwarfs, for which high accuracy optical and infrared photometry is available. We introduce a new technique which exploits the flux…
Ultracool dwarfs have emerged as key targets for searches of transiting exoplanets. Precise estimates of the host parameters (including mass, age, and radius) are fundamental to constrain the physical properties of orbiting exoplanets. We…
We use HST/STIS optical spectroscopy of ten M dwarfs in five closely separated binary systems to test models of M dwarf structure and evolution. Individual dynamical masses ranging from 0.083 to 0.405 Mo for all stars are known from…
In this work, we identify 734 ultracool dwarfs with a spectral type of M6 or later, including one L0. Of this sample, 625 were studied spectroscopically for the first time. All of these ultracool dwarfs are within 360~pc, with a…
The newly discovered brown-dwarf eclipsing binary 2MASS J05352184-0546085 provides a unique laboratory for testing the predictions of theoretical models of brown-dwarf formation and evolution. The finding that the lower-mass brown dwarf in…
New spectra of 81 ultracool dwarfs (spectral types M7 and later) are discussed. Spectral classifications of 49 objects are available in the literature, while 32 objects are newly classified. The known spectral types were used to test an…