Weather on Other Worlds: A Survey of Cloud-Induced Variability in Brown Dwarfs

Details Weather on Other Worlds: A Survey of Cloud-Induced Variability in Brown Dwarfs Weather on Other Worlds: A Survey of Cloud-Induced Variability in Brown Dwarfs

May 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011sptz.prop80179m&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #80179

Computer Science

Scientific paper

We propose a comprehensive program to detect periodic brightness variations in L and T dwarfs caused by the spatially inhomogeneous distribution of dusty clouds--weather patterns--in their atmospheres. We will seek trends over a broad set of substellar characteristics, encompassing objects with a range of temperatures, colors, and ages. While numerous variability searches have been conducted on L and T dwarfs to date, the vast majority have been ground-based and limited in precision. Only recently did members of the presently assembled team produce clear and repeatable detections of periodic flux variations in a half dozen substellar objects, thus providing the first strong evidence for heterogeneous cloud cover in their atmospheres. Spitzer's factor of 3-5 superior photometric precision enables a much more sensitive and comprehensive study of the atmospheric dynamics underlying the phenomenon. Our program will increase the scope of mid-infrared variability studies of brown dwarfs by more than an order of magnitude. We will target 44 ultra-cool dwarfs with spectral types between L3-T8, spanning the full color range at each spectral subtype, and including both low-gravity and field objects. We anticipate significant detections of periodicities as small as 10 milli-magnitudes in amplitude, which will enable the routine detection of weather patterns smaller than Jupiter's Great Red Spot on extrasolar substellar objects. The presence and brightness temperature distribution of these weather patterns will be analyzed in the context of state-of-the-art cloudy atmospheric models, and will reveal the longitudinal and vertical thermodynamics of substellar atmospheres. The proposed program will be relevant to the broader understanding of rotating, low-temperature, brown dwarf and exoplanetary atmospheres: a regime entirely different from that of the irradiated hot-Jupiter type extrasolar planets studied with Spitzer to date.

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