Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 1986
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986a%26a...162...80d&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 162, no. 1-2, July 1986, p. 80-86.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
39
Brown Dwarf Stars, Dwarf Stars, Main Sequence Stars, Milky Way Galaxy, Missing Mass (Astrophysics), Solar System, Stellar Evolution, Stellar Luminosity, Stellar Mass, White Dwarf Stars
Scientific paper
A present day mass function is derived for main sequence stars in the solar neighborhood to evaluate the feasibility of the attributing the missing mass of galaxies to dead white dwarfs (DWD) or brown dwarfs. The luminosity function (LF) of stars within 20 pc of the sun having masses in the range 0.1-1.0 solar mass was used to project a smooth power law for the IMF of the same objects. The IMF is extrapolated to estimate the potential number of brown dwarfs, i.e., stars not massive enough to ignite hydrogen. The local density is estimated to be 11 brown dwarfs/cu pc, a value high enough to allow brown dwarfs to be significant contributers to the galactic dark mass. Estimates of the population of DWDs, based on the LF of white dwarfs and projected white dwarf lifetimes, eliminate DWDs as notable contributers to galactic dark mass estimates.
Dantona F.
Mazzitelli Irene
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