Related papers: Using binary statistics in Taurus-Auriga to distin…
(abridged) The recent evidence obtained by Briceno et al. that star-formation in Taurus-Auriga (TA) may be producing significantly fewer brown dwarfs (BDs) per star than the ONC is investigated by setting up a realistic model stellar plus…
(abridged) Sub-stellar mass objects have fundamentally different binary properties than stars implying that they cannot have the same formation history. They are rather unfinished stars having either been ejected by their siblings from…
Recent observations of binary stars in the Galactic field show that the binary fraction and the mean orbital separation both decrease as a function of decreasing primary mass. We present $N$-body simulations of the effects of dynamical…
We have conducted a high-resolution imaging study of the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region in order to characterize the primordial outcome of multiple star formation and the extent of the brown dwarf desert. Our survey identified 16 new…
Aims. The brown dwarf (BD) formation process has not yet been completely understood. To shed more light on the differences and similarities between star and BD formation processes, we study and compare the disk fraction among both kinds of…
The formation of brown dwarfs (BDs) poses a key challenge to star formation theory. The observed dearth of nearby ($\leq 5$ AU) brown dwarf companions to solar-mass stars, known as the brown dwarf desert, as well as the tendency for…
Context: The principal mechanism by which brown dwarfs form, and its relation to the formation of higher-mass (i.e. hydrogen-burning) stars, is poorly understood. Aims: We advocate a new model for the formation of brown dwarfs. Methods: In…
Aims : We want to investigate whether brown dwarfs (BDs) form like stars or are ejected embryos. We study the presence of disks around BDs in the Taurus cloud, and discuss implications for substellar formation models. Methods : We use…
We present a high spatial resolution UV to NIR survey of 44 young binary stars in Taurus with separations of 10-1000 AU. The primary results include: (1) The relative ages of binary star components are more similar than the relative ages of…
We suggest that a high proportion of brown dwarfs are formed by gravitational fragmentation of massive extended discs around Sun-like stars. Such discs should arise frequently, but should be observed infrequently, precisely because they…
The origin of brown dwarfs (BDs) is an important component of the theory of star formation, because BDs are approximately as numerous as solar mass stars. It has been suggested that BDs originate from the gravitational fragmentation of…
We suggest that low-mass hydrogen-burning stars like the Sun should sometimes form with massive extended discs; and we show, by means of radiation hydrodynamic simulations, that the outer parts of such discs (R>100 AU) are likely to…
The effects which star cluster concentration and binarity have on observable parameters, that characterise the dynamical state of a population of stars after their birth aggregate dissolves, are investigated. To this end, the correlations…
(abridged) Star formation in the Taurus--Auriga (TA) molecular clouds is producing binary-rich aggregates containing at most a few dozen systems within a region spanning one pc without massive stars. This environment is very different to…
Our first aim is to calculate the minimum mass for Primary Fragmentation in a variety of potential star-formation scenarios, i.e. (i) hierarchical fragmentation of a 3-D medium; (ii) one-shot, 2-D fragmentation of a shock-compressed layer;…
The observational properties of brown dwarfs pose challenges to the theory of star formation. Because their mass is much smaller than the typical Jeans mass of interstellar clouds, brown dwarfs are most likely formed through secondary…
The observational properties of brown dwarfs pose challenges to the theory of star formation. Because their mass is much smaller than the typical Jeans mass of interstellar clouds, brown dwarfs are most likely formed through secondary…
The formation of brown dwarfs via encounters between proto-stars has been confirmed with high-resolution numerical simulations with a restricted treatment of the thermal conditions. The new results indicate that young brown dwarfs (BDs)…
We present the results of a high-resolution imaging survey of 22 brown dwarfs and very low mass stars in the nearby (~145 pc) young (~1-2 Myr) low-density star-forming region Taurus-Auriga. We obtained images with the Advanced Camera for…
We review the current state of observational work on the formation of brown dwarfs, focusing on their initial mass function, velocity and spatial distributions at birth, multiplicity, accretion, and circumstellar disks. The available…