The Coolest Isolated Brown Dwarf Candidate Member of TWA
Abstract
We present two new late-type brown dwarf candidate members of the TW Hydrae association (TWA): 2MASS J12074836-3900043 and 2MASS J12474428-3816464, which were found as part of the BANYAN all-sky survey (BASS) for brown dwarf members of nearby young associations. We obtained near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for both objects (NIR spectral types are respectively L1 and M9), as well as optical spectroscopy for J1207-3900 (optical spectral type is L0γ), and show that both display clear signs of low gravity, and thus youth. We use the BANYAN II Bayesian inference tool to show that both objects are candidate members to TWA with a very low probability of being field contaminants, although the kinematics of J1247-3816 seem slightly at odds with that of other TWA members. J1207-3900 is currently the latest-type and the only isolated L-type candidate member of TWA. Measuring the distance and radial velocity of both objects is still required to claim them as bona fide members. Such late-type objects are predicted to have masses down to 11-15 M Jup at the age of TWA, which makes them compelling targets to study atmospheric properties in a regime similar to that of currently known imaged extrasolar planets.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1088/2041-8205/785/1/L14
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1403.3120
- Bibcode:
- 2014ApJ...785L..14G
- Keywords:
-
- brown dwarfs;
- proper motions;
- stars: kinematics and dynamics;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ Letters