Related papers: PPV Chapter - The Formation of Brown Dwarfs
We conduct a pebble-driven planet population synthesis study to investigate the formation of planets around very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, in the (sub)stellar mass range between $0.01 \ M_{\odot}$ and $0.1 \ M_{\odot}$. Based on the…
The difference in formation process between binary stars and planetary systems is reflected in their composition as well as their orbital architecture, particularly orbital eccentricity as a function of orbital period. It is suggested here…
Theory and simulations suggest that it is possible to form low-mass hydrogen-burning stars, brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects via disc fragmentation. As disc fragmentation results in the formation of several bodies at comparable…
This White Paper, submitted to the National Academy of Sciences' Astro2010 Decadal Review Committee, focuses on 2 central themes in the study of young brown dwarfs -- their formation mechanism and disk characteristics -- which are of direct…
Almost by definition brown dwarfs are objects with masses below the hydrogen burning limit, around $0.07\ M_\odot$. Below this mass, objects never reach a steady state where they can fuse hydrogen. Here we demonstrate, in contrast to this…
In this short review, we summarize our present understanding (and non-understanding) of exoplanet formation, structure and evolution, in the light of the most recent discoveries. Recent observations of transiting massive brown dwarfs seem…
Whether BDs form as stars through gravitational collapse ("star-like") or BDs and some very low-mass stars constitute a separate population which form alongside stars comparable to the population of planets, e.g. through circumstellar disk…
We present the stellar and substellar mass function of the open cluster IC2391, plus its radial dependence, and use this to put constraints on the formation mechanism of brown dwarfs. Our multiband optical and infrared photometric survey…
It is often argued that gravitational instability of realistic protoplanetary discs is only possible at distances larger than $\sim 50$ au from the central star, requiring high disc masses and accretion rates, and that therefore disc…
(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…
We have simulated star formation in prestellar cores, using SPH and initial conditions informed by observations of the cores in Ophiuchus. Because the observations are limited to two spatial dimensions plus radial velocity, we cannot infer…
This review summarises recent observational results regarding the evolution of angular momentum and disks in brown dwarfs. The observations clearly show that brown dwarfs beyond ages of 10 Myr are exclusively fast rotators and do not spin…
The physics of brown dwarfs has continuously improved since the discovery of these astrophysical bodies. The first important developments were devoted to the description of their mechanical structure, with the derivation of an appropriate…
In order to understand the atmospheres as well as the formation mechanism of giant planets formed outside our solar system, the next decade will require an investment in studies of isolated young brown dwarfs. In this white paper we…
Although many models have been proposed, the physical mechanisms responsible for the formation of low-mass brown dwarfs are poorly understood. The multiplicity properties and minimum mass of the brown-dwarf mass function provide critical…
We investigate the collapse and fragmentation of low-mass, trans-sonically turbulent prestellar cores, using SPH simulations. The initial conditions are slightly supercritical Bonnor-Ebert spheres, all with the same density profile, the…
After decades of brown dwarf discovery and follow-up, we can now infer the functional form of the mass distribution within 20 parsecs, which serves as a constraint on star formation theory at the lowest masses. Unlike objects on the main…
Understanding the dominant brown dwarf and giant planet formation processes, and finding out whether these processes rely on completely different mechanisms or share common channels represents one of the major challenges of astronomy and…
We investigate the dynamics of gaseous clumps formed via gravitational fragmentation in young protostellar disks, focusing on the fragments that are ejected from the disk via many-body gravitational interaction. Numerical hydrodynamics…
We investigate the formation of binary stellar systems. We consider a model where a `seed' protobinary system forms, via fragmentation, within a collapsing molecular cloud core and evolves to its final mass by accreting material from an…