May 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007sptz.prop40198f&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #40198
Statistics
Scientific paper
With the basic colors and photometry for M, L, and T dwarfs in the IRAC bandpasses established (Patten et al. 2006), we wish to shift our focus to the differences seen among objects with similar T_eff and, in particular, to expand on the exploration of the T dwarfs. While some of the observed dispersion of T dwarf colors and magnitudes in the near- and mid-IR for objects of the same sub-type can be explained by differences in metallicity and gravity, some of this scatter may also be due to binarity and intrinsic variability (i.e., 'brown dwarf weather'). We are curious as to whether or not the observed scatter with color in the infrared, which appears to be largest in the mid-T dwarfs, really tapers off and grows smaller in the late-T dwarfs, or if we are simply not seeing the whole picture due to small number statistics. On the warmer end of the T sequence, recent results suggest that the transition from the late-L to early-T types in brown dwarf temperature progresses very quickly in an evolutionary sense. Therefore, objects with early T types should be relatively rare. Many of the early-T brown dwarfs used in the in the Patten et al. 2006 study (and others) have turned out to be very close binaries (e.g. Burgasser et al. 2006), which has resulted in a deficit of true, single early-T brown dwarfs with well-determined mid-infrared colors and photometry. We are proposing to acquire IRAC photometry for an additional ~23 T-type dwarfs in order to allow us to better characterize trending with color and spectral type for the T dwarfs. These new T dwarf data will be combined with the existing T dwarf data previously acquired by IRAC to produce the color-color and color-magnitude diagrams necessary to compare observation to theory for the coolest sub-stellar mass objects known. These data will prove invaluable in constraining searches in color and magnitude space for brown dwarf companions to nearby stars as well as for free-floating brown dwarfs in the field.
Fazio Giovanni
Hora Joseph
Luhman Kevin
Marengo Massimo
Patten Brian
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