Testing Atmospheric Models Across the Brown Dwarf/Planet Boundary with Benchmark Young Substellar Companions
Abstract
We present results from Large Binocular Telescope LMIRCam and MMT ARIES direct imaging and spectroscopy of young substellar companions with masses overlapping the planetary regime. These companions exhibit unusually red infrared colors in common with the imaged planetary companions to HR 8799. The young ages of these systems make them important analogs to directly imaged planets, and allow us to explore the atmospheric properties of low mass, low surface gravity objects. The LBT measurements with different mid-IR filters are particularly sensitive to the effects of clouds, chemistry, and metallicity, which enable detailed tests of theoretical atmosphere models (e.g. Fortney et al. 2008, Madhusudhan et al. 2011, Barman et al. 2011). By combining the MMT J, H, and K spectra with the L-band data, we have comprehensive wavelength coverage of the bulk of the emergent flux from these young substellar objects. Collectively, the IR to mid-IR spectra and photometry of the targets define an empirical sequence of young object atmospheres spanning the brown dwarf/planet mass transition. These atmospheric studies represent the most analogous comparison to the atmospheres of young imaged planets, and provide a means to fundamentally test evolutionary models, enhancing our understanding of the overall substellar population.
- Publication:
-
Search for Life Beyond the Solar System. Exoplanets, Biosignatures & Instruments
- Pub Date:
- March 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014ebi..confP4.82W