We present the first mid-infrared (MIR) detection of a field brown dwarf (BD) and the first ground-based MIR measurements of a disk around a young BD candidate. We prove the absence of warm dust surrounding the field BD LP 944–20. In the case of the young BD candidate Cha Hα2, we find clear evidence for thermal dust emission from a disk. Surprisingly, the object does not exhibit any silicate feature as previously predicted. We show that the flat spectrum can be explained by an optically thick flat dust disk but not by a flared one.
Planet or brown dwarf? Inferring the companion mass in HD 100546 from the wall shape using mid-infrared interferometry
