Session
2023 session 4
Location
Weber State University
Start Date
5-8-2023 11:30 AM
Description
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that form like stars but never achieve the core temperatures and pressures needed to ignite hydrogen fusion. These "failed stars" have been shown to exhibit complex atmospheres similar to those of planets, making them useful analogs for exoplanets. As a brown dwarf cools over time, different cloud species condense or fall below the surface of the atmosphere, causing changes in the resulting spectrum of the object. Comparison of theoretical atmospheric models to real brown dwarf spectra can provide insight into the physical and chemical processes occurring in the atmosphere of the object. We have fit over 300 archival and new brown dwarf spectra with atmospheric models in order to discover where the models are fitting the data well and where current modeling techniques might need improvement. In this paper, we present some of the general trends we have observed, why this work is important to the astronomical community, and the next steps for this project.
Spectral Fits of Brown Dwarfs: Discovering Trends Across the Spectral Type Sequence
Weber State University
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that form like stars but never achieve the core temperatures and pressures needed to ignite hydrogen fusion. These "failed stars" have been shown to exhibit complex atmospheres similar to those of planets, making them useful analogs for exoplanets. As a brown dwarf cools over time, different cloud species condense or fall below the surface of the atmosphere, causing changes in the resulting spectrum of the object. Comparison of theoretical atmospheric models to real brown dwarf spectra can provide insight into the physical and chemical processes occurring in the atmosphere of the object. We have fit over 300 archival and new brown dwarf spectra with atmospheric models in order to discover where the models are fitting the data well and where current modeling techniques might need improvement. In this paper, we present some of the general trends we have observed, why this work is important to the astronomical community, and the next steps for this project.