Related papers: Stellar and brown dwarf properties from numerical …
We review five mechanisms for forming brown dwarfs: (i) turbulent fragmentation of molecular clouds, producing very low-mass prestellar cores by shock compression; (ii) collapse and fragmentation of more massive prestellar cores; (iii) disc…
It is not known whether brown dwarfs (stellar-like objects with masses less than the hydrogen-burning limit, 0.075 Msun) are formed in the same way as solar-type stars or by some other process. Here we report the clear-cut identification of…
Observations of brown dwarfs provide important feedback on theories of atmospheres and inner structure of substellar objects. Brown dwarf binary systems furthermore offer the unique opportunity to determine the mass of individual brown…
Most of massive stars form in binary or higher-order systems in clumpy, sub-structured clusters. In the very first phases of their life, these stars are expected to interact with the surrounding environment, before being released to the…
Giant planets and brown dwarfs play a crucial role in star and planet formation, as they are situated at the boundary between planets and stars with uncertain formation mechanisms. Previous observational searches for the formation boundary…
Binary populations in young star clusters show multiplicity fractions both lower and up to twice as high as those observed in the Galactic field. We follow the evolution of a population of binary stars in dense and loose star clusters…
In this paper we consider the population of eccentric binaries with a neutron star and a white dwarf that has been revealed in our galaxy in recent years through binary pulsar observations. We apply our statistical analysis method (Kim,…
We have obtained HST Planetary Camera observations of a total of fifty-three low-mass (M < 0.3 M_solar) members of the Hyades cluster. Nine of these stars are resolved as binaries, with separations between 0.1 and 3.1 arcseconds, while a…
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 have carried out sensitive 1.3 mm observations of 20 young brown dwarfs in the Taurus star-forming region, representing the largest sample of young substellar objects targeted in a deep millimeter continuum survey to date. Under standard…
I present observations of a new faint double, 2MASS J11011926-7732383AB, toward the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. From optical and near-infrared images of the pair, I measure a separation of 1.44" and extract RIJHK_s photometry of the…
We suggest that planets, brown dwarfs, and even low mass stars can be formed by fragmentation of protoplanetary disks around very massive stars M>~100 solar masses. We discuss how fragmentation conditions make the formation of very massive…
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 present the first high-angular resolution survey for multiple systems among very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the Hyades open cluster. Using the Keck\,II adaptive optics system, we observed a complete sample of 16 objects with…
The majority of stars in known star-forming regions are located in binary systems. Although the separation distribution of these populations varies from one region to another, most peak between a few and several tens of AU. Given the >100…
We report the detection of sixteen binary systems from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search. Solutions to the radial velocity data indicate that the stars have companions orbiting with a wide range of masses, eccentricities and periods. Three…
Brown dwarf formation and star formation efficiency are studied using a nested grid simulation that covers five orders of magnitude in spatial scale (10^4 - 0.1AU). Starting with a rotating magnetized compact cloud with a mass of 0.22…
Multiplicity is a key statistic for understanding the formation of very low mass (VLM) stars and brown dwarfs. Currently, the separation distribution of VLM binaries remains poorly constrained at small separations (< 1 AU), leading to…
We present results from the first hydrodynamical star formation calculation to demonstrate that close binary stellar systems (separations $\lsim 10$ AU) need not be formed directly by fragmentation. Instead, a high frequency of close…
We discuss the factors influencing the formation and gravitational fragmentation of protostellar discs. We start with a review of how observations of prestellar cores can be analysed statistically to yield plausible initial conditions for…