A proto-brown dwarf candidate in rho Ophiuchus

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phan Bao Ngoc

Brown dwarfs with masses below 0.075 solar masses are thought to form like low-mass stars (e.g., the Sun).However, it is still unclear how the physical formation processes occurin brown dwarfs at the ealiest stages (i.e., proto-brown dwarfs) of their formation.Up to date, only a few proto-brown dwarfs have been detected.The detection of proto-brown dwarfs offers us excellent benchmarks to studythe formation process of brown dwarfs, and thus understand their formation mechanism.In this paper, we present our identification of a proto-brown dwarf candidate in the star-forming regionrho Ophiuchus.The candidate shows a small-scale bipolar molecular outlfow that is similar to the outflows observed inother young brown dwarfs. The detection of this candidateprovides us with additional important implications for the formation mechanism of brown dwarfs.

2003 ◽  
Vol 211 ◽  
pp. 447-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott J. Wolk

I review recent observations of brown dwarfs by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These observations fall in 2 categories, young stellar clusters which contain brown dwarfs and brown dwarf candidates and directed pointings at brown dwarfs and very low mass stars. Surprisingly, there are already over 60 published detections of brown dwarfs by Chandra. A review of the X–ray characteristics shows these objects are subject to flaring and their temperatures and luminosities have a vast range which is related to age.


2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A107 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. I. Rodríguez-Barrera ◽  
Ch. Helling ◽  
K. Wood

Context. Brown dwarfs emit bursts of Hα, white-light flares, and show radio flares and quiescent radio emission. They are suggested to form aurorae, similar to planets in the solar system, but much more energetic. All these processes require a source gas with an appropriate degree of ionisation, which, so far, is mostly postulated to be sufficient. Aims. We aim to demonstrate that the Galactic environment influences atmospheric ionisation, and that it hence amplifies or enables the magnetic coupling of the atmospheres of ultra-cool objects, like brown dwarfs and free-floating planets. Methods. We build on our previous work on thermal ionisation of ultra-cool atmospheres and explore the effect of environmental high-energy radiation on the degree of ionisation in the atmosphere. We consider the effect of photoionisation by Lyman-continuum radiation in three different environments: in the interstellar radiation field (ISRF), O and B stars in star-forming regions, and in white dwarf companions in binary systems. We apply our Monte Carlo radiation transfer code to investigate the effect of Lyman-continuum photoionisation for prescribed atmosphere structures for very low-mass objects. Results. The external radiation environment plays an important role for the atmospheric ionisation of very low-mass, ultra-cool objects. Lyman-continuum irradiation greatly increases the level of ionisation in the uppermost atmospheric regions. Our results suggest that a shell of an almost fully ionised atmospheric gas emerges for brown dwarfs in star-forming regions and brown dwarfs in white dwarf binary systems. As a consequence, brown dwarf atmospheres can be magnetically coupled, which is the presumption for chromospheric heating to occur and for aurorae to emerge. First tests for assumed chromosphere-like temperature values suggest that the resulting free-free X-ray luminosities are comparable with those observed from non-accreting brown dwarfs in star-forming regions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 756-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
France Allard ◽  
Bernd Freytag

AbstractThe atmospheres of Brown Dwarfs (BDs) are the site of molecular opacities and cloud formation, and control their cooling rate, radius and brightness evolution. Brown dwarfs evolve from stellar-like properties (magnetic activity, spots, flares, mass loss) to planet-like properties (electron degeneracy of the interior, cloud formation, dynamical molecular transport) while retaining, due to their fully convective interior, larger rotational velocities (≤ 30 km/s i.e. P < 4 hrs versus 11 hrs for Jupiter). Model atmospheres treating all this complexity are therefore essential to understand the evolution properties, and to interpret the observations of these objects. While the pure gas-phase based NextGen model atmospheres (Allard et al. 1997, Hauschildt et al. 1999) have allowed the understanding of the several populations of Very Low Mass Stars (VLMs), the AMES-Dusty models (Allard et al. 2001) based on equilibrium chemistry have reproduced some near-IR photometric properties of M and L-type brown dwarfs, and played a key role in the determination of the mass of brown dwarfs and Planetary Mass Objects (PMOs) in the eld and in young stellar clusters. In this paper, we present a new model atmosphere grid for VLMs, BDs, PMOs named BT-Settl, which includes a cloud model and dynamical molecular transport based on mixing information from 2D Radiation Hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations (Freytag et al. 2009). We also present the status of our 3D RHD simulations including rotation (Coriolis forces) of a cube on the surface of a brown dwarf. The BT-Settl model atmosphere grid will be available shortly via the Phoenix web simulator (http://phoenix.ens-lyon.fr/simulator/).


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S299) ◽  
pp. 230-231
Author(s):  
Alycia J. Weinberger ◽  
Alan P. Boss ◽  
Guillem Anglada-Escudé

AbstractWe present preliminary astrometric results aimed at understanding the lifetime of circumstellar disks and potential for planet formation. We have obtained parallaxes to stars in the TW Hydrae, Upper Scorpius, and Chamaeleon I stellar associations. These enable new estimates for the ages of the stars. We are also performing the Carnegie Astrometric Planet Search of nearby low mass stars for gas giant planets on wide orbits. We have our first candidate around a mature brown dwarf.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S270) ◽  
pp. 223-226
Author(s):  
Dimitris Stamatellos ◽  
Anthony Whitworth

AbstractA large fraction of brown dwarfs and low-mass stars may form by gravitational fragmentation of relatively massive (a few 0.1 M⊙) and extended (a few hundred AU) discs around Sun-like stars. We present an ensemble of radiative hydrodynamic simulations that examine the conditions for disc fragmentation. We demonstrate that this model can explain the low-mass IMF, the brown dwarf desert, and the binary properties of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. Observing discs that are undergoing fragmentation is possible but very improbable, as the process of disc fragmentation is short lived (discs fragment within a few thousand years).


2003 ◽  
Vol 211 ◽  
pp. 133-136
Author(s):  
Michael C. Liu

We present some results from a systematic survey for disks around spectroscopically identified young brown dwarfs and very low mass stars. We find that ≈75% of our sample show intrinsic IR excesses, indicative of circum(sub)stellar disks. The observed excesses are well-correlated with Hα emission, consistent with a common disk accretion origin. Because the excesses are modest, conventional analyses using only IR colors would have missed most of the sources with disks. In the same star-forming regions, we find that disks around brown dwarfs and T Tauri stars are contemporaneous; assuming coevality, this demonstrates that substellar disks are at least as long-lived as stellar disks. Altogether, the frequency and properties of circumstellar disks are similar from the stellar regime down to the substellar and planetary-mass regime. This offers compelling evidence of a common origin for most stars and brown dwarfs.


1993 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 171-173
Author(s):  
Rafael Rebolo ◽  
Eduardo L. Martin ◽  
Antonio Magazzu

AbstractWe are conducting a search for lithium in very low mass objects with the aim of discriminating between stellar and substellar objects. Lithium is expected to be preserved in brown dwarfs with M/M⊙ ≤0.06, while it is known to be efficiently destroyed in low mass stars. In this paper we present high resolution observations in the region of the λ 6708 Li I resonance line of 5 very low mass dwarfs. In none of them lithium is detected, implying a Li destruction in their atmospheres of about four orders of magnitude. Our results suggest that these objects are probably very low mass stars rather than brown dwarfs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 632 ◽  
pp. L9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavien Kiefer

The first planetary candidate discovered by Latham et al. (1989, Nature, 339, 38) with radial velocities around a solar-like star other than the Sun, HD 114762 b, was detected with a minimum mass of 11 MJ. The small v sin i ∼ 0 km s−1 that is otherwise measured by spectral analysis indicated that this companion of a late-F subgiant star better corresponds to a massive brown dwarf (BD) or even a low-mass M-dwarf seen nearly face-on. To our knowledge, the nature of HD 114762 b is still undetermined. The astrometric noise measured for this system in the first data release, DR1, of the Gaia mission allows us to derive new constraints on the astrometric motion of HD 114762 and on the mass of its companion. We use the method GASTON, introduced in a preceding paper, which can simulate Gaia data and determine the distribution of inclinations that are compatible with the astrometric excess noise. With an inclination of 6.26.2+1.9−1.3 degree, the mass of the companion is constrained to Mb = 108+31−26 MJ. HD 114762 b thus indeed belongs to the M-dwarf domain, down to brown dwarfs, with Mb >  13.5 MJ at the 3σ level, and is not a planet.


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