| |
 |
| Paper: |
SONYC - Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters |
| Volume: |
448, 16th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun |
| Page: |
683 |
| Authors: |
Mužić, K.; Scholz, A.; Geers, V. C.; Jayawardhana, R.; Tamura, M. |
| Abstract: |
The origin of the lowest mass free-floating objects – brown dwarfs
and planetary-mass objects – is one of the major unsolved problems in star
formation. Establishing a census of young substellar objects is a
fundamental prerequisite for distinguishing between competing
theoretical scenarios. Such a census allows us to probe the initial
mass function (IMF), binary statistics, and properties of accretion
disks. Our SONYC (Substellar Objects in Nearby
Young Clusters) survey relies on extremely deep wide-field optical and
near-infrared imaging, with follow-up spectroscopy, in combination
with Spitzer photometry to probe the bottom end of the IMF to
unprecedented levels. Here we present SONYC results for three
different regions: NGC 1333, ρ Ophiuchus
and Chamaeleon-I. In NGC 1333, we
find evidence for a possible cutoff in the mass function at 10-20
Jupiter masses. In ρ Oph we report a new brown
dwarf with a mass close to the deuterium-burning limit. |
|
|
|
|
|
