Related papers: Brown Dwarfs in the Pleiades Cluster Confirmed by …
We have obtained intermediate resolution spectra of eleven candidate brown dwarf members of the Pleiades open cluster using the Keck II telescope and LRIS spectrograph. Our primary goal was to determine the location of the "lithium…
We present the discovery of an object in the Pleiades open cluster, named Teide 2, with optical and infrared photometry which place it on the cluster sequence slightly below the expected substellar mass limit. We have obtained low- and…
The fundamental properties of brown dwarfs evolve with age. Models describing the evolution of luminosities and effective temperatures, among other physical parameters, can be empirically constrained using brown dwarfs of various masses in…
This paper discusses the ability of Li to confirm the substellar nature of a brown dwarf candidate. Theoretical computations using different interior models agree that brown dwarfs with masses below $\sim$ 0.065 M$_{\odot}$ preserve a…
We present optical and near-IR spectroscopy (600--1000 nm) of 8 faint (I$>$18) very red (R--I$>$2.2) objects discovered in a deep CCD survey of the Pleiades (Zapatero-Osorio et al. 1996). We compare them with reliable cluster members like…
We present the results of a 6.4 square degrees imaging survey of the Pleiades cluster in the I and Z-bands. The survey extends up to 3 degrees from the cluster center and is 90% complete down to I~22. It covers a mass range from 0.03 Msun…
We present intermediate dispersion (0.7-2.2 \AA ~pix$^{-1}$) optical spectroscopic observations aimed at applying the ``Lithium Test'' to a sample of ten brown dwarf candidates located in the general field, two in young open clusters, and…
We present a search for low-mass brown dwarfs in the Pleiades open cluster. The identification of Pleiades members fainter and cooler than those currently known allows us to constrain evolutionary models for L dwarfs and to extend the study…
We have identified twenty-seven candidate very low mass members of the relatively young Alpha Persei open cluster from a six square degree CCD imaging survey. Based on their I magnitudes and the nominal age and distance to the cluster,…
From the luminosity, effective temperature, and age of the Hyades brown dwarf 2MASSJ04183483+2131275 (2M0418), sub-stellar evolutionary models predict a mass in the range 39-55 Jupiter masses (M_Jup) which is insufficient to produce any…
An area large enough (180 sq arcmin) to put constraints on a possible low mass brown dwarf population in the Pleiades has been surveyed to very faint magnitudes in I, J and K. The completeness limit, I=21.6, corresponds to a mass of 0.01…
We have carried out a brown dwarf search over an area of 14' x 23' near the central portion of the Pleiades open cluster in five optical and near infrared bands (i', Z, J, H, Ks) with 10 sigma detection limits of i' = 22.0, J = 20.0 and Ks…
We have obtained near-IR observations of some of the faintest objects so far known towards the Pleiades cluster, with the aim of investigating the sequence that connects cluster very low-mass (VLM) stars with substellar objects. We find…
(Abridged) We aim at identifying the least massive population of the solar metallicity, young (120 Myr), nearby (133.5 pc) Pleiades star cluster with the ultimate goal of understanding the physical properties of intermediate-age,…
We have undertaken a differential photometric I band search for variability in three Pleiades brown dwarfs and three very low mass field L dwarfs. Analysis of the resultant time series for the Pleiades brown dwarfs (Teide 1, Calar 3, Roque…
We have obtained deep CCD R and I mosaic imaging of 578 arcmin$^{2}$ within 1$^{\circ}$.5 of the Pleiades' center -- reaching a completeness magnitude I=19.5 -- with the aim of finding free-floating brown dwarfs. Teide~1, the best $bona$…
The theory of substellar evolution predicts that there is a sharp mass boundary between lithium and non-lithium brown dwarfs, not far below the substellar-mass limit. The imprint of thermonuclear burning is carved on the surface lithium…
The brown dwarf population in the Pleiades cluster has been probed in a deep 850 arcmin2 RIJK survey. The survey is complete to I=21.4 in 76% of the area and to I=20.2 in the remaining 24%. Photometry of 32 previously known members is…
Determination of the lithium depletion boundary (LDB), i.e., the observational limit below which the cores of very low-mass objects do not reach high enough temperature for Li destruction, has been used to obtain ages for several open…
PPl 15 is the first object to have been confirmed as a brown dwarf by the lithium test (in 1995), though its inferred mass was very close to the substellar limit. It is a member of the Pleiades open cluster. Its position in a cluster…