Physics
Scientific paper
Sep 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011sptz.prop80233d&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #80233
Physics
Scientific paper
Understanding extremely low temperature atmospheres is a major goal of current studies of both brown dwarfs and exoplanets. Two weeks ago, Cushing et al. (2011) announced the first unambiguous sample of Y dwarfs, brown dwarfs showing clear signatures of ammonia in their NIR spectra. These objects are spectroscopically estimated to have temperatures of ~300-500 K, colder than any previously known free-floating brown dwarfs. However, direct distances are needed to determine model-independent temperatures for this sample and to test their observed properties against current theoretical models in this new physical frontier. We propose to use Spitzer to measure trigonometric parallaxes for these objects, made possible thanks to their bright mid-IR emission and our improved distortion solution for IRAC. The >2-year time baseline achieved by combining our new Spitzer data from 2012 with WISE+Spitzer data from 2010 will enable us to robustly break the degeneracy between parallax and proper motion, resulting in distance errors of 10-20% and corresponding temperature uncertainties of 30-50 K. Our distances will also enable fundamental tests of theoretical models by placing these coldest brown dwarfs on the color-magnitude diagram, where they are expected to lie ~5-10 mag below previously known objects at near-IR wavelengths.
Dupuy Trent
Kraus Adam
Liu Michael
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