Related papers: Habitability in Brown Dwarf Systems
TRAPPIST-1 (Gillon et al. 2017) is an extremely compact planetary system: seven earth-sized planets orbit at distances lower than 0.07 AU around one of the smallest M-dwarf known in the close neighborhood of the Sun (with a mass of less…
The orbital elements of extreme mass ratio binaries will be modified by interactions with surrounding circumstellar disks. For brown dwarf companions to Solar-type stars the resulting orbital migration is sufficient to drive short period…
Many planets are observed in stellar binary systems, and their frequency may be comparable to that of planetary systems around single stars. Binary stellar evolution in such systems influences the dynamical evolution of the resident…
We use three field L and T dwarfs which were discovered to be wide companions to known stars by the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) to derive a preliminary brown dwarf companion frequency. Observed L and T dwarfs indicate that brown…
This White Paper describes the opportunities for discovery of Jupiter-mass objects with 300K atmospheres. The discovery and characterization of such cold objects is vital for understanding the low-mass terminus of the initial mass function…
We use the optical and near-infrared photometry from the Kepler Input Catalog to provide improved estimates of the stellar characteristics of the smallest stars in the Kepler target list. We find 3897 dwarfs with temperatures below 4000K,…
Because the planets of a system form in a flattened disk, they are expected to share similar orbital inclinations at the end of their formation. The high-precision photometric monitoring of stars known to host a transiting planet could thus…
Recent studies have shown that close-in brown dwarfs in the mass range 35-55 M$_{\rm Jup}$ are almost depleted as companions to stars, suggesting that objects with masses above and below this gap might have different formation mechanisms.…
We analyze data from the Quarter 1-17 Data Release 24 (Q1--Q17 DR24) planet candidate catalog from NASA's Kepler mission, specifically comparing systems with single transiting planets to systems with multiple transiting planets, and…
A key goal of the Kepler mission is the discovery of Earth-size transiting planets in "habitable zones" where stellar irradiance maintains a temperate climate on an Earth-like planet. Robust estimates of planet radius and irradiance require…
The discovery of large numbers of young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs over the last decade has made it possible to investigate star formation and early evolution in a previously unexplored mass regime. In this review, we begin by…
Substellar objects such as brown dwarfs and planets are generally expected to remain detached from their main-sequence host stars unless orbital decay or stellar expansion brings them into contact, leading to rapid engulfment and…
Understanding the formation and dynamical evolution of habitable planets in extrasolar planetary systems is a challenging task. In this respect, systems with multiple giant planets and/or multiple stars present special complications. The…
Brown dwarfs, which occupy a fuzzy gap in mass between stars and planets, appear to be common both in the solar neighborhood and in star-forming regions. Their origin is a topic of significant current interest and debate. Some astronomers…
The discovery of planetary systems beyond our solar system has challenged established theories of planetary formation. Planetary orbits display a variety of unexpected architectures, and free-floating planets appear ubiquitous. The recent…
Trends in the planet population with host star mass provide an avenue to constrain planet formation theories. We derive the planet radius distribution function for Kepler stars of different spectral types, sampling a range in host star…
"Free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar objects" are isolated bodies of a few Jupiter masses found in very young open clusters and associations, nearby young moving groups and in the immediate vicinity of the Sun. They are neither…
In systems with detected planets, hot-Jupiters and compact systems of multiple planets are nearly mutually exclusive. We compare the relative occurrence of these two architectures as a fraction of detected planetary systems to determine the…
The Kepler data show that habitable small planets orbiting Red Dwarf stars (RDs) are abundant, and hence might be promising targets to look at for biomarkers and life. Planets orbiting within the Habitable Zone of RDs are close enough to be…
Doppler planet searches revealed that many giant planets orbit close to their host star or in highly eccentric orbits. These and subsequent observations inspired new theories of planet formation that invoke gravitation interactions in…