Related papers: SONYC - Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Cluster…
The substellar initial mass function (IMF) and the formation mechanisms of brown dwarfs (BDs) remain key open questions in star formation theory. IMF characterization in a large number of star-forming regions (SFRs) is essential for…
We investigate the star formation activity in a young star forming cluster embedded at the edge of the RCW 41 HII region. As a complementary goal, we aim at demonstrating the gain provided by Wide-Field Adaptive Optics instruments to study…
This contribution addresses the question of whether the initial cluster mass function (ICMF) has a fundamental limit (or truncation) at high masses. The shape of the ICMF at high masses can be studied using the most massive young (<10 Myr)…
The masses and temperatures of young low mass stars and brown dwarfs in star- forming regions are not yet well established because of uncertainties in the age of individual objects and the spectral type vs. temperature scale appropriate for…
We report on the {\lambda} = 5-36{\mu}m Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph spectra of 79 young stellar objects in the very young nearby cluster NGC 1333. NGC 1333's youth enables the study of early protoplanetary disk properties, such as the…
Young stellar clusters are predominantly the hub of star formation and hence, ideal to perform comprehensive studies over the least explored sub-stellar regime. Various unanswered questions like the mass distribution in brown dwarf regime…
We performed a deep wide field optical survey of the young (~100-150 Myr) open cluster Blanco1 to study its low mass population well down into the brown dwarf regime and estimate its mass function over the whole cluster mass range.The…
We use the results of a new, multi-epoch, multi-wavelength, near-infrared census of the Trapezium Cluster in Orion to construct and to analyze the structure of its infrared (K band) luminosity function. Specifically, we employ an improved…
The Star Formation in Nearby Clouds (SFiNCs) project is aimed at providing detailed study of the young stellar populations and star cluster formation in nearby 22 star forming regions (SFRs) for comparison with our earlier MYStIX survey of…
We present the results of deep and high-resolution (FWHM ~ 0".35) JHK NIR observations with the Subaru telescope, to search for very low mass young stellar objects (YSOs) in the W3 Main star-forming region. The NIR survey covers an area of…
We summarize recent observational and theoretical progress aimed at understanding the origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) with specific focus on galactic star-forming regions. We synthesize data from various efforts to…
NGC 6611 is the massive young cluster (2-3 Myr) that ionises the Eagle Nebula. We present very deep photometric observations of the central region of NGC 6611 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the following filters: ACS/WFC F775W…
A search for young substellar objects in the rho Oph cloud core region has been made using the deep-integration Combined Calibration Scan images of the 2MASS extended mission in J, H and Ks bands, and Spitzer IRAC images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) and the fraction of binary systems are fundamental ingredients that govern the formation and evolution of galaxies. Whether the IMF is universal or varies with environment remains one of the central…
'Isolated planetary mass objects' (IPMOs) have masses close to or below the Deuterium-burning mass limit (~15 Jupiter masses) -- at the bottom of the stellar initial mass function. We present an exploratory survey for disks in this mass…
Rotational studies at a variety of ages and masses are important for constraining the angular momentum evolution of young stellar objects (YSO). Of particular interest are the very low mass (VLM) stars and brown dwarfs (BDs), because of the…
The number of low-mass brown dwarfs and even free floating planetary mass objects in young nearby star-forming regions and associations is continuously increasing, offering the possibility to study the low-mass end of the IMF in greater…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a key parameter to understand the star formation process and the integrated properties of stellar populations in remote galaxies. We present a spectroscopic study of young massive clusters (YMCs)…
It is estimated that ~60% of all stars (including brown dwarfs) have masses below 0.2Msun. Currently, there is no consensus on how these objects form. I will briefly review the four main theories for the formation of low-mass objects:…
We have obtained optical and near-infrared spectra of candidate members of the star-forming clusters IC 348 and NGC 1333. We classify 100 and 42 candidates as new members of the clusters, respectively, which brings the total numbers of…