Atmospheres of brown dwarfs
Abstract
Brown dwarfs are the coolest class of stellar objects known to date. Our present perception is that brown dwarfs follow the principles of star formation, and that brown dwarfs share many characteristics with planets. Being the darkest and lowest mass stars known makes brown dwarfs also the coolest stars known. This has profound implication for their spectral fingerprints. Brown dwarfs cover a range of effective temperatures which cause brown dwarfs atmospheres to be a sequence that gradually changes from a M-dwarf-like spectrum into a planet-like spectrum. This further implies that below an effective temperature of 2,800 K, clouds form already in atmospheres of objects marking the boundary between M-Dwarfs and brown dwarfs. Recent developments have sparked the interest in plasma processes in such very cool atmospheres: sporadic and quiescent radio emission has been observed in combination with decaying X-ray activity indicators across the fully convective boundary.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics Review
- Pub Date:
- November 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s00159-014-0080-0
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1410.6029
- Bibcode:
- 2014A&ARv..22...80H
- Keywords:
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- (Stars:) brown dwarfs;
- Stars: low-mass;
- Stars: atmospheres;
- Infrared: stars;
- Radio lines: stars;
- X-rays: stars;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Physics - Space Physics
- E-Print:
- Review accepted for publication by The A&