Related papers: Brown Dwarfs
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…
Brown dwarfs are natural clocks, cooling and dimming over time due to insufficient core fusion. They are also numerous and present in nearly all Galactic environments, making them potentially useful chronometers for a variety of Galactic…
Brown dwarfs -- substellar bodies more massive than planets but not massive enough to initiate the sustained hydrogen fusion that powers self-luminous stars -- are born hot and slowly cool as they age. As they cool below about 2,300 K,…
Brown dwarfs are failed stars with very low mass (13 to 75 $M_J$), and an effective temperature lower than 2500 K. Thus, they play a key role in understanding the gap in the mass function between stars and planets. However, due to their…
Observations of brown dwarfs provide important feedback on theories of atmospheres and inner structure of substellar objects. Brown dwarf binary systems furthermore offer the unique opportunity to determine the mass of individual brown…
The infrared search for substellar companions to nearby white dwarfs has been going for a little more than a decade. The most recent phase has been a wide field proper motion search carried out primarily at Steward Observatory, where we are…
We present a near-infrared spectrum of the close, detached white dwarf + brown dwarf binary WD0137-349 (Maxted et al 2006), that directly reveals the substellar companion through an excess of flux longwards of 1.95 microns. We best match…
We have performed deep, wide-field imaging on a ~0.4 deg^2 field in the Pleiades (Melotte 22). The selected field was not yet target of a deep search for low mass stars and brown dwarfs. Our limiting magnitudes are R ~ 22mag and I ~ 20mag,…
We report the discovery of an isolated brown dwarf with similar properties to the binary object Gliese 229B and to the newly discovered field brown dwarf SDSS 1624+00. Although exhibiting similar colors, its magnitude of ~20.5 is about 6…
This White Paper to the National Academy of Sciences Astro2010 Decadal Review Committee highlights cross-disciplinary science opportunities over the next decade with cold brown dwarfs, sources defined here as having photospheric…
We show that the total habitable volume in the atmospheres of cool brown dwarfs with effective temperatures of $\sim 250$-$350$ K is possibly larger by two orders of magnitude than that of Earth-like planets. We also study the role of…
Straddling the traditional realms of the planets and the stars, objects below the edge of the main sequence have such unique properties, and are being discovered in such quantities, that one can rightly claim that a new field at the…
We present intermediate and low resolution optical spectroscopy (650-915 nm) of seven faint, very red objects (20 > I >= 17.8, I-Z >= 0.5) discovered in a CCD-based IZ survey covering an area of 1 sq. deg in the central region of the…
We present results of an optical and near-infrared (IR) 1.8 deg^2 survey in the Pleiades open cluster to search for substellar objects. From optical I-band images from the CFHT and J-band images from the 3.5 m CAHA Telescope, we identify 18…
We present a kinematic analysis of 152 low surface gravity M7-L8 dwarfs by adding 8 parallaxes, 38 radial velocities, and 19 proper motions. We find 39 objects to be high-likelihood or bona fide members of nearby moving groups, 92 objects…
A medium resolution 1.0-2.5um spectrum of the brown dwarf, Gliese 229B has been obtained using CGS4 on UKIRT. In addition to the broad spectral structure seen in earlier low resolution observations, the new spectrum reveals a large number…
Brown dwarfs form the key, yet poorly understood, link between stellar and planetary astrophysics. These objects offer unique tests of Galactic structure, but observational limitations have inhibited their large-scale analysis to date.…
The recently discovered brown dwarf WISE 0855 presents our first opportunity to directly study an object outside the Solar System that is nearly as cold as our own gas giant planets. However the traditional methodology for characterizing…
Brown dwarfs, being transitional objects between giant planets and low-mass stars, possess dense, cool interiors that provide optimal conditions to explore non-standard physics. Capture and accumulation of dark-matter particles can alter…
Searches of large scale surveys have resulted in the discovery of over 1000 brown dwarfs in the Solar neighbourhood. In this chapter we review the progress in finding brown dwarfs in large datasets, highlighting the key science goals, and…