Related papers: Testing Substellar Models with Dynamical Mass Meas…
We have been using Keck laser guide star adaptive optics to monitor the orbits of ultracool binaries, providing dynamical masses at lower luminosities and temperatures than previously available and enabling strong tests of theoretical…
Mass is the fundamental parameter that governs the evolution of stars, brown dwarfs, and gas-giant planets. Thus, direct mass measurements are essential to test the evolutionary and atmospheric models that underpin studies of these objects.…
(Abridged) We present multi-epoch imaging of the T5.0+T5.5 binary 2MASS J1534-2952AB obtained with the Keck laser guide star adaptive optics system. Combined with an extensive (re-)analysis of archival HST imaging, we find a total mass of…
We present the full results of our decade-long astrometric monitoring programs targeting 31 ultracool binaries with component spectral types M7-T5. Joint analysis of resolved imaging from Keck Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope and…
Astrometric observations of resolved binaries provide estimates of orbital periods and will eventually lead to measurement of dynamical masses. Only a few very low mass star and brown dwarf masses have been measured to date, and the…
We present new evidence for a problem with cooling rates predicted by substellar evolutionary models that implies model-derived masses in the literature for brown dwarfs and directly imaged planets may be too high. Based on our dynamical…
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…
By definition, brown dwarfs never reach the main-sequence, cooling and dimming over their entire lifetime, thus making substellar models challenging to test because of the strong dependence on age. Currently, most brown dwarfs with…
(Abridged) Highly unequal-mass ratio binaries are rare among field brown dwarfs, with the known census described by q^(4.9+/-0.7). However, such systems can test the joint accuracy of evolutionary and atmospheric models, under the…
One of the most effective ways to test stellar evolutionary models is to measure dynamical masses for binary systems at a range of temperatures. In this paper, we present orbits of three young K+M binary systems in Taurus (Hubble~4, FF~Tau,…
We present novel tests of pre$-$main-sequence models based on individual dynamical masses for the M7 binary LSPM J1314+1320AB. Joint analysis of our Keck adaptive optics astrometric monitoring along with Very Long Baseline Array radio data…
[ABRIDGED] We present the results of a 3 year monitoring program of a sample of very low mass (VLM) field binaries using both astrometric and spectroscopic data obtained in conjunction with the laser guide star adaptive optics system on the…
We present the discovery of 2MASS J21321145+1341584AB as a closely separated (0.066") very low-mass field dwarf binary resolved in the near-infrared by the Keck II Telescope using laser guide star adaptive optics. Physical association is…
We present Keck LGS AO imaging and aperture masking observations of the M8+L7 binary LHS 2397aAB. Together with archival HST, Gemini-North, and VLT data, our observations span 11.8 years of the binary's 14.2-year orbital period. We…
We test state-of-the-art model atmospheres for young very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the infrared, by comparing the predicted synthetic photometry over 1.2-24 {\mu}m to the observed photometry of M-type spectral templates in…
We present Keck laser guide star adaptive optics imaging of the M8+M8 binary 2MASS J2206-2047AB. Together with archival HST, Gemini-North, and VLT data, our observations span 8.3 years of the binary's 35 year orbital period, and we…
Several dozen binary ultracool and brown dwarf systems have been identified to date. These systems represent valuable probes of star and planet formation at the lowest mass scales. To date, the study of these ultracool binaries has been…
We present evolutionary calculations for very-low-mass stars and brown dwarfs based on synthetic spectra and non-grey atmosphere models which include dust formation and opacity, i.e. objects with $\te\simle 2800$ K. The interior of the most…
We present a systematic study of the physical properties of late-M dwarfs based on high-quality dynamical mass measurements and near-infrared (NIR) spectra. We use astrometry from Keck NGS and LGS AO imaging to determine orbits for late-M…
In the present work we compare in detail some of the major theoretical libraries with observations, aiming at detecting weaknesses and strengths from the stellar population modelling point of view. We compared model predictions and…