Confirmation of a Candidate for the Coolest Known Brown Dwarf

Details Confirmation of a Candidate for the Coolest Known Brown Dwarf Confirmation of a Candidate for the Coolest Known Brown Dwarf

Jan 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011sptz.prop70203l&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #70203

Computer Science

Scientific paper

We have used multi-epoch Spitzer/IRAC images to search for substellar companions to several hundred nearby stars based on their common proper motions. Through this work, we have identified a very promising candidate that could be the coldest and faintest known brown dwarf by a fairly large margin, and thus may inhabit a new spectral class (tentatively dubbed the Y class). Given the low value of our mass estimate (10-15 M_Jup), this object could also be a giant planet that formed in a disk and was scattered to a larger orbit. To verify the cool nature of this candidate, we propose to obtain photometry at 3.6um and combine it with the existing data at 4.5um to measure the 3.6-4.5um color, which should be very red if methane absorption is present at 3.6um. If confirmed as the coolest known brown dwarf, this companion will represent a valuable laboratory for studying atmospheres in a new temperature regime, and its colors will help to guide searches for the coolest brown dwarfs with facilities like WISE.

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