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[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…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-19 Jacqueline Radigan , David Lafrenière , Ray Jayawardhana , Etienne Artigau

Brown dwarfs and exoplanets are thought to host complex atmospheric phenomena such as clouds, storms, and chemical heterogeneity, akin to weather patterns on Earth. These features can produce pronounced spectral variability.…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-02-24 Fei Wang , Ben Burningham , Stuart Littlefair , Etienne Artigau , Yuka Fujii , Jacqueline K. Faherty , Johanna M. Vos

The spectra of brown dwarfs are key to exploring the chemistry and physics that take place in their atmospheres. Late-T dwarf spectra are particularly diagnostic due to their relatively cloud-free atmospheres and deep molecular bands. With…

The L/T transition is a critical evolutionary stage for brown dwarfs and self-luminous giant planets. L/T transition brown dwarfs are more likely to be spectroscopically variable, and their high-amplitude variability probes distributions in…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-11-24 Madalyn F. Chapleski , Yifan Zhou

The large scale structure of a brown dwarf atmosphere is determined by an interplay of convection, radiation, dust formation, and gravitational settling, which possibly provides an explanation for the observed variability. The result is an…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Ch. Helling , P. Woitke

Dust formation in brown dwarf atmospheres is studied by utilising a model for driven turbulence in the mesoscopic scale regime. We apply a pseudo-spectral method where waves are created and superimposed within a limited wavenumber interval.…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Ch. Helling , R. Klein , P. Woitke , U. Nowak , E. Sedlmayr

(abridged) We calculate near-infrared thermal emission spectra using a doubling-adding radiative transfer code, which includes scattering by clouds and haze. Initial temperature profiles and cloud optical depths are taken from the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2011-08-08 R. J. de Kok , Ch. Helling , D. M. Stam , P. Woitke , S. Witte

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 Daniel Apai , Jacqueline Radigan , Esther Buenzli , Adam Burrows , Iain N. Reid , Ray Jayawardhana

Theoretical analysis and observational evidences indicate that a brown dwarf with effective temperature greater than 1400 K would have dust cloud in its atmosphere. In this letter, we show that dust scattering should yield polarized…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-07 Sujan Sengupta , Vinod Krishan

Recent photometry of L and T dwarfs revealed that the infrared colors show a large variation at a given Teff and, within the framework of our Unified Cloudy Model (UCM), this result can be interpreted as due to a variation of the critical…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 Takashi Tsuji

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…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-03 Jacqueline Radigan , Ray Jayawardhana , David Lafrenière , Etienne Artigau , Mark Marley , Didier Saumon

Recent studies revealed viewing-angle-dependent color and spectral trends in brown dwarfs, as well as long-term photometric variability (~100 hr). The origins of these trends are yet unexplained. Here, we propose that these seemingly…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-10-10 Nguyen Fuda , Dániel Apai

*Abbreviated abstract* Context: Brown dwarfs in the spectral range L9-T3.5, within the so called L/T transition, have been shown to be variable at higher amplitudes and with greater frequency than other field dwarfs. [...] Now, more…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-11-04 Simon C. Eriksson , Markus Janson , Per Calissendorff

With the discovery of Y dwarfs by the WISE mission, the population of field brown dwarfs now extends to objects with temperatures comparable to those of Solar System planets. To investigate the atmospheres of these newly identified brown…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-23 A. Rajan , J. Patience , P. A. Wilson , J. Bulger , R. J. De Rosa , K. Ward-Duong , C. Morley , F. Pont , R. Windhorst

The re-emergence of the 0.99 $\mu$m FeH feature in brown dwarfs of early- to mid-T spectral type has been suggested as evidence for cloud disruption where flux from deep, hot regions below the Fe cloud deck can emerge. The same mechanism…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-10-28 Esther Buenzli , Mark. S. Marley , Dániel Apai , Didier Saumon , Beth A. Biller , Ian J. M. Crossfield , Jacqueline Radigan

As brown dwarfs cool, a variety of species condense in their atmospheres, forming clouds. Iron and silicate clouds shape the emergent spectra of L dwarfs, but these clouds dissipate at the L/T transition. A variety of other condensates are…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-05 Caroline V. Morley , Jonathan J. Fortney , Mark S. Marley , Channon Visscher , Didier Saumon , S. K. Leggett

The global circulation regime of the coolest brown dwarfs, the Y dwarfs, remains largely unexplored. We investigate the interplay between convection, rotation, and cloud thermal feedback using a selected sample of Y dwarf atmospheric…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2026-04-01 C. Akın , E. K. H. Lee , L. Gkouvelis , K. Heng

We have observed the post common envelope binary WD0137-349 in the near infrared $J$, $H$ and $K$ bands and have determined that the photometry varies on the system period (116 min). The amplitude of the variability increases with…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2014-01-08 S. L. Casewell , M. R. Burleigh , K. A. Lawrie , P. F. L. Maxted , P. D. Dobbie , R. Napiwotzki

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…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2011-02-11 Étienne Artigau , Sandie Bouchard , René Doyon , David Lafrenière

We present a photometric variability survey of young planetary-mass objects using the New Technology Telescope in the Js and Ks bands. Surface gravity plays an important role in the atmospheric structure of brown dwarfs, as young low…