Exploring Young Brown Dwarfs: Disks, Binarity and Bottom of the IMF
Ray Jayawardhana
University of Toronto
There is a compelling case that young sub-stellar objects undergo a T
Tauri phase similar to their stellar counterparts, possibly suggesting a
common formation mechanism. The supporting evidence includes infrared
and millimeter observations of disk emission as well as optical and
infrared spectra with signatures of accretion and outflow. Binary
properties provide another important diagnostic of brown dwarf origin:
while binary frequency and maximum separation appear to decline with
stellar mass, recent observations have revealed a number of very low
mass wide pairs, posing a challenge to some formation models. Now we
are able to extend studies of the stellar initial mass function and
of disks to young planetary mass objects, which are found both in
isolation and as companions. Remarkably, the star formation process
seems to be capable of producing planetary mass objects directly.
Date: | Jeudi, le 9 avril 2009 |
Heure: | 15:00 |
Lieu: | Université de Montréal |
| Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, Local D-460 |
Contact: | René Doyon |
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