Spitzer Identification of the Least Massive Known Brown Dwarf with a Circumstellar Disk
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0502100
From: Kevin Luhman [view email]
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 13:30:21 GMT (29kb)
Spitzer Identification of the Least Massive Known Brown Dwarf with a
Circumstellar Disk
Authors:
K. L. Luhman,
Paola D’Alessio,
Nuria Calvet,
Lori E. Allen,
Lee Hartmann,
S. T. Megeath,
P. C. Myers,
G. G. Fazio
Comments: 9 pages, 1 figure
Journal-ref: Astrophys.J. 620 (2005) L51
Using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope, we
have obtained mid-infrared photometry of the least massive known brown dwarf in
the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. For this young brown dwarf, OTS 44, we
have constructed a spectral energy distribution (SED) from 0.8-8 um by
combining the measurements at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 um from IRAC with
ground-based photometry at I, J, H, and K. The resulting SED for OTS 44
exhibits significant excess emission longward of 3 um relative to the SED
expected from the photosphere of the brown dwarf. We have successfully modeled
the source of this excess emission in terms of an irradiated viscous accretion
disk with M'<=10^-10 M_sun/year. With a spectral type of M9.5 and a mass of ~15
M_Jup, OTS 44 is now the coolest and least massive brown dwarf observed to have
a circumstellar disk. These measurements demonstrate that disks exist around
brown dwarfs even down to the deuterium burning mass limit and the approximate
upper mass limit of extrasolar planetary companions.
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