Related papers: Brown Dwarfs: Toward a New Age Scale for Young Ope…
We present new astrometric and spectroscopic data to confirm two new M/L dwarf systems, G124-62 and LHS5166, and discuss the nature of a third system (LP261-75). Age and thus mass determinations of the L dwarf companions are discussed based…
We take a critical look at the lithium depletion boundary (LDB) technique that has recently been used to derive the ages of open clusters. We identify the sources of experimental and systematic error and show that the probable errors are…
Our aim is to identify brown dwarf members of the nearby Hyades open star cluster to determine the photometric and spectroscopic properties of brown dwarfs at moderately old ages and extend the knowledge of the substellar mass function of…
I review efforts to determine the form and any lower limit to the initial mass function in the Galactic disk, using observations of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the field, young clusters and star forming regions. I focus on the…
We present the results of a photometric and spectroscopic survey of cool M dwarf candidates in the young open cluster NGC 2547. Using the 2dF fiber spectrograph, we have searched for the luminosity at which lithium remains unburned in an…
We present an updated catalog of 1300 objects in the field of M31, including 670 likely star clusters of various types. Archival images were inspected to confirm cluster classifications where possible, but most of the classifications were…
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 highlight the importance of eclipsing double-line binaries in our understanding on star formation and evolution. We review the recent discoveries of low-mass and sub-stellar eclipsing binaries belonging to star-forming regions, open…
We have measured high-precision parallaxes for a large sample of candidate young (~10-100 Myr) and intermediate-age (~100-600 Myr) ultracool dwarfs, with spectral types ranging from M8 to T2.5. These objects are compelling benchmarks for…
To investigate the universality hypothesis of the initial mass function in the substellar regime, the population of the rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud is analysed by including a new sample of low-mass spectroscopically confirmed members. To…
White dwarfs (WDs) in open star clusters are a highly useful ensemble of stars. While numerous researchers use open cluster WDs to study the initial-final mass relation, numerous other evolutionary studies are also enabled by this sample of…
Recent observations of nearby star forming regions have offered evidence that young brown dwarfs undergo a period of mass accretion analogous to the T Tauri phase observed in young stars. Brown dwarf analogs to stellar protostars, however,…
We present near-infrared (1.0-2.4 micron) spectra confirming the youth and cool effective temperatures of 6 brown dwarfs and low mass stars with circumstellar disks toward the Chamaeleon II and Ophiuchus star forming regions. The spectrum…
We describe in this work the BASS survey for brown dwarfs in young moving groups of the solar neighborhood, and summarize the results that it generated. These include the discovery of the 2MASS J01033563-5515561 (AB)b and 2MASS…
The so-called lithium depletion boundary (LDB) provides a secure and independent tool for deriving the ages of young open clusters.In this context, our goal is to determine membership for a sample of 147 photometrically selected candidates…
Up to now, most planet search projects have concentrated on F to K stars. In order to considerably widen the view, we have stated a survey for planets of old, nearby brown dwarfs and very low mass stars. Using UVES, we have observed 26…
We present a photometric variability survey of young planetary-mass objects using the New Technology Telescope in the Js and Ks bands. Surface gravity plays an important role in the atmospheric structure of brown dwarfs, as young low…
(Abridged) We aim to determine the trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of a sample of ten field L0-L5 dwarfs with spectroscopic evidence for low-gravity atmospheres. We obtained J and Ks imaging data using 2-4-m class telescopes…
We present an analysis of low resolution infrared spectra for 20 brown dwarf candidates in the core of the $\rho$ Ophiuchi molecular cloud. Fifteen of the sources display absorption-line spectra characteristic of late-type stars. By…
Young brown dwarfs and directly-imaged exoplanets have enticingly similar photometric and spectroscopic characteristics, indicating that their cool, low gravity atmospheres should be studied in concert. Similarities between the peculiar…