Related papers: Why compositional convection cannot explain subste…
Through a simple physical argument we show that the slant optical depth through the atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" planet is 35-90 times greater than the normal optical depth. This not unexpected result has direct consequences for the method…
Brown dwarfs are compact objects that do not reach temperatures high enough to produce sustained hydrogen fusion. Consequently, they cool over time, gradually evolving through later spectral types. In fact, three new spectral types (L, T,…
Significant populations of field L and T dwarfs are now known, and we anticipate the discovery of even cooler dwarfs by Spitzer and ground-based infrared surveys. However, as the number of known L and T dwarfs increases so does the range in…
Throughout a planetary system's formation evolution, some of the planetary material may end up falling into the host star and be engulfed by it, leading to a potential variation of the stellar composition. The present study explores how…
High-precision photometric observations have revealed ubiquitous stochastic low-frequency photometric variability in early type stars. It has been suggested that this variability arises due to either subsurface convection or internal…
The interiors of many planets consist mostly of fluid layers. When these layers are subject to superadiabatic temperature or compositional gradients, turbulent convection transports heat and momentum. In addition, planets are fast rotators.…
Planets have been detected around a variety of stars, including low-mass objects, such as brown dwarfs. However, such extreme cases are challenging for planet formation models. Recent sub-millimeter observations of disks around brown dwarf…
Gaia's exquisite parallax measurements allowed for the discovery and characterization of the Q branch in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, where massive C/O white dwarfs (WDs) pause their dimming due to energy released during…
Observations indicate that turbulent motions are present on most massive star surfaces. Starting from the observed phenomena of spectral lines with widths much larger than thermal broadening (e.g. micro- and macroturbulence) to the…
The thermal evolution of neutron stars is coupled to their spin down and the resulting changes in structure and chemical composition. This coupling correlates stellar surface temperatures with rotational state as well as time. We report an…
"Brown dwarfs" is the collective name for objects more massive than giant planets such as Jupiter but less massive than M dwarf stars. This review gives a brief description of the classification and chemistry of low mass dwarfs. The current…
Interstellar turbulence is driven over a wide range of scales by processes including spiral arm instabilities and supernovae, and it affects the rate and morphology of star formation, energy dissipation, and angular momentum transfer in…
Recently, Jao et al. (2018) discovered a gap in the mid-M dwarfs main sequence revealed by the analysis of Gaia data Release 2. They suggested the feature is linked to the onset of full convection in M dwarfs. Following the announcement of…
This chapter reviews the nature of turbulence in the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) and its connections to the star formation (SF) process. The ISM is turbulent, magnetized, self-gravitating, and is subject to heating and cooling…
Precise measurements of the fundamental properties of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs are key to understanding the physics underlying their formation and evolution. While there has been great progress over the last decade in studying the…
Macroturbulence, introduced as a fudge to reproduce the width and shape of stellar absorption lines, reflects gas motions in stellar atmospheres. While in cool stars, it is thought to be caused by convection zones immediately beneath the…
Turbulence and turbulent mixing in natural fluids begins with big bang turbulence powered by spinning combustible combinations of Planck particles and Planck antiparticles. Particle prograde accretions on a spinning pair releases 42% of the…
The precipitation of cloud particles in brown dwarf and exoplanet atmospheres establishes an ongoing downward flux of condensable elements. To understand the efficiency of cloud formation, it is therefore crucial to quantify the…
The Ludwig-Soret effect, the migration of a species due to a temperature gradient, has been extensively studied without a complete picture of its cause emerging. Here we investigate the dynamics of DNA and spherical particles sub jected to…
Observations have revealed that the elemental abundances of carbon and oxygen in the warm molecular layers of some protoplanetary disks are depleted compared to those is the interstellar medium by a factor of ~10-100. Meanwhile, little is…