Found 18 talks width keyword brown dwarfs

We present a sample of 734 ultracool dwarfs using LAMOST DR7 spectra, i.e.,  those having a spectral type of or later than M6, including an L0.  All of these red or brown dwarfs are within 360 pc, with a Gaia G magnitude brighter than 19.2 mag, a BP-RP color redder than 2.5 mag  and an absolute G magnitude fainter than 9 mag. Their stellar parameters  (Teff, log g, and [M/H]) are consistent with being the Galactic thin-disk  population, which is further supported by their kinematics using LAMOST radial velocity plus Gaia proper motion and parallax.  A total of 77 are detected  with the lithium absorption line at 6708 A, signifying youth and substellar nature. We report on their kinematic ages estimated by the velocity dispersion. Thirty five close pairs are identified, of which the binarity of six is discovered for the first time.

The initial mass function describes the distribution of masses for a population of stars and substellar objects when they are born. It defines the evolution of a population of stars and provides constrains on the star formation theory. The determination of the initial mass function in the substellar regime is still an open question in Astrophysics. Brown dwarfs do not have enough mass to sustain hydrogen fusion. As a consequence, mass and age are degenerate for these objects. An older high mass object may be indistinguishable from a younger low mass object. In my PhD thesis, through the characterization of brown dwarfs using several observational methods, I work towards solving the general problem of constraining the substellar initial mass function.

In my first project, I calculated trigonometric parallaxes of a sample of six cool brown dwarfs. I determined the luminosity for our objects and I found that one of them might be a brown dwarf binary. In my second project, I confirmed the youth of seven brown dwarfs (ages between 1 and 150 Myr) using spectroscopic data.In the last project of this PhD thesis, I aimed to refine the brown dwarf binary fraction using spectroscopic data in the optical and in the near infrared for 22 brown dwarfs. I found six new brown dwarf binary candidates, two of them were previously known.

The determination of distances, ages and the refinement of the brown dwarf binary fraction in this PhD thesis contribute to the determination of the initial mass function. In the next years, the Gaia satellite, the James Webb Space Telescope and the E-ELT will provide new data, allowing the discovery of new brown dwarf binaries, the constraining of atmospheric and evolutionary models, and the refinement of the initial mass function.

 A comprehensive understanding of sub-stellar objects (brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets) and their population characteristics (e.g. IMF, formation history) is only possible through the robust interpretation of ultra-cool objects spectroscopy. However, the physics of ultra-cool atmospheres is complicated by a variety of challenging ingredients (dust properties, non-equilibrium chemistry, molecular opacities). Moreover, while hydrogen-burning stars stabilize on the stellar main-sequence, sub-stellar objects continuously cool down (since they lack an internal source of energy) and evolve towards later spectral types. Their atmospheric parameters are a strong function of age. In this talk I will present the spectroscopic analysis of a large sample of L and T dwarfs, complementing the spectroscopic data with astrometry from the PARSEC program, in order to constrain the sub-stellar initial mass function and formation history. I will then describe our new effort to identify and characterize a large sample of benchmark systems, combining Gaia capabilities with large area near-infrared surveys such as UKIDSS, SDSS, and VVV, in order to calibrate effectively the theoretical models.
    

Direct imaging of wide planetary mass companions provide a unique opportunity to fully characterize their spectroscopic and photometric properties. They share similar physical properties to gas giant exoplanets found by radial velocity and transit techniques, with overlapping temperatures in the range of ~1000–1500K and masses from a few to a dozen Jupiter masses. We have recently identified a young L-type companion at ~100 AU of a previously unrecognized M dwarf. We determined the parallactic distance of the system of 12.7 ± 1.0 pc. By comparison with evolutionary models we derived a mass of 73 (+20, -15) MJup for the primary, at around the substellar mass limit and 11.2 (+9.7, -1.8) MJup for the secondary, near the deuterium burning mass limit. In this talk I will present the properties of the two components of this new pair and discuss the possibilities for future thorough characterization.

Understanding the atmospheric and evolutive properties of very low mass stars, brown dwarfs, and gas giant exoplanets have been important challenges for modelers around the world since the discovery of the first brown dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster (Rebolo et al. 1995) and in the field (Nakajima et al. 1995). The early studies of brown dwarfs have provided rich insights into atmospheric physics, with discoveries ranging from cloud formation (Tsuji et al. 1996), methane bands (Oppenheimer et al. 1995) and ammonia bands (Delorme et al. 2008), to the formation of wasi-molecular KI-H2 absorption (Allard et al. 2007), and to disequilibrium chemistry (Yelle & Griffith 2001). New classical 1D models yield spectral energy distribution (SED) that match relatively well despite these complexities. These models have for instance explained the spectral transition from M to L, T and now Y brown dwarf spectral types (Allard et al. 2013). However, in presence of surface inhomogeneities revealed recently for a nearby (2 pc) brown dwarf (Crossfield et al. 2014), the SED may well fit even exactly, but the model parameters could be far from exact, e.g. with the effective temperature by several hundred kelvins too cool in the case of dusty brown dwarfs and young gas giant exoplanets! I will review the progress achieved in reproducing the spectral properties of very low mass stars, brown dwarfs and gas giant exoplanets, and review progress in modeling more accurately their atmospheres using Radiation HydroDynamical (RHD) simulations.

Over the past two decades, advances in infrared instrumentation have allowed us to identify a vast and previously unseen population of low-temperature stars, brown dwarfs and free-floating extrasolar planets, collectively called ultracool dwarfs. These sources, with surface temperatures reaching below 0ºC, encompass three new spectral classes and include some of the nearest systems to the Sun. Research in this field is now concentrating on the physical characterization of the ultracool dwarf population and application to Galactic studies. In this talk, I will summarize the recent observational advances in ultracool dwarf research, including the recent discovery of the Y dwarf spectral class. I will then describe our ongoing IRTF/SpeX survey, which has measured the low-resolution, near-infrared spectra of over 1500 late M, L and T dwarfs and uncovered new subpopulations of young (5-30 Myr) brown dwarf, metal-poor halo brown dwarfs and short-period spectral binaries.

Fundamental properties of brown dwarfs, such as luminosity and effective temperature, evolve with age. Large samples of spectroscopically-confirmed substellar objects with well-determined ages and distances are needed to constrain those parameters. We are embarked in a spectroscopic follow-up with GTC/OSIRIS of low-mass member candidates selected in several open clusters to constrain their membership. Here I will present the first L dwarf member in Praesepe confirmed by photometry, astrometry, and spectroscopy. We derived an optical spectral type of L0.3+/-0.4 and a mass placing it at the hydrogen-burning boundary. Considering the measured equivalent width of the gravity-sensitive sodium doublet, and the derived membership probability of ~80% or higher, we conclude that this object is likely to be a true member of Praesepe, with evidence of being a binary system.

We discuss the role and significance of molecules in the modern astrophysics. Molecular opacities govern the structure of model atmospheres of late-type stars and ultracool dwarfs. Some problems of computations of model atmosphere and synthetical spectra of cool stars are discussed. We present some successful attempts of the application of the molecular spectroscpy for the studies of late -type stars and ultracool dwarfs. Finally, some problems of fitting theoretical spectra to the observed SED are discussed.

The stellar spectroscopic sequence has now been extended into very cool objects bridging the gap between low-mass stars and classical planets. Those objects, called Y dwarfs, are the coolest substellar objects known to date with temperatures below 500 Kelvins. We obtained z-band far-red imaging for six Y dwarfs and a T9+Y0 binary with GTC/OSIRIS to characterise their spectral energy distribution. This photometric dataset represent the first optical detection of Y dwarfs. I will present the z-band photometry, optical-to-infrared colours, and proper motions of these Y dwarfs. I will discuss the larger dispersion in the optical-to-infrared colours of Y dwarfs than in warmer brown dwarfs, which may originate from presence of sulfide clouds, the depletion of alcalines, and/or gravity effects.