The T Tauri Phase Down to Nearly Planetary Masses: Echelle Spectra of 82 Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs (original) (raw)

Evidence for a T Tauri Phase in Young Brown Dwarfs

The Astrophysical Journal, 2003

As part of a multi-faceted program to investigate the origin and early evolution of sub-stellar objects, we present high-resolution Keck optical spectra of 14 very low mass sources in the IC 348 young cluster and the Taurus star-forming cloud. All of our targets, which span a range of spectral types from M5 to M8, exhibit moderate to very strong Hα emission. In half of the IC 348 objects, the Hα profiles are broad and asymmetric, indicative of on-going accretion. Of these, IC348-355 (M8) is the lowest mass object to date to show accretion-like Hα. Three of our ∼ M6 IC 348 targets with broad Hα also harbor broad OI (8446Å) and CaII (8662Å) emission, and one shows broad HeI (6678Å) emission; these features are usually seen in strongly accreting classical T Tauri stars. We find that in very low mass accretors, the Hα profile may be somewhat narrower than that in higher mass stars. We propose that low accretion rates combined with small infall velocities at very low masses can conspire to produce this effect. In the non-accretors in our sample, Hα emission is commensurate with, or higher than, saturated levels in field M dwarfs of similar spectral type. Our results constitute the most compelling evidence to date that young brown dwarfs undergo a T Tauri-like accretion phase similar to that in stars. This is consistent with a common origin for most low-mass stars, brown dwarfs and isolated planetary mass objects.

Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in Taurus‐Auriga

The Astrophysical Journal, 2003

We present high resolution optical spectra obtained with the HIRES spectrograph on the W. M. Keck I telescope of seven low mass T Tauri stars and brown dwarfs (LMTTs) in Taurus-Auriga. The observed Li I 6708Å absorption, low surface gravity signatures, and radial velocities confirm that all are members of the Taurus star forming region; no new spectroscopic binaries are identified. Four of the seven targets observed appear to be T Tauri brown dwarfs. Of particular interest is the previously classified "continuum T Tauri star" GM Tau, which has a spectral type of M6.5 and a mass just below the stellar/substellar boundary.

The Mass Accretion Rates of Intermediate-Mass T Tauri Stars

Astronomical Journal, 2004

We present Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra and supporting ground-based data for a sample of nine intermediate-mass T Tauri stars (IMTTSs; 1.5-4 M ). The targets belong to three star-forming regions: T Tau, SU Aur, and RY Tau in the Taurus clouds; EZ Ori, P2441, and V1044 Ori in the Ori OB1c association surrounding the Orion Nebula cluster; and CO Ori, GW Ori, and GX Ori in the ring around k Ori. The supporting groundbased observations include nearly simultaneous UBV(R I ) C photometry, 6 8 resolution spectra covering the range 3900-7000 8, optical echelle observations in the range 5800-8600 8, and K-band near-infrared spectra. We use these data to determine improved spectral types and reddening corrections and to obtain physical parameters of the targets. We find that an extinction law with a weak 2175 8 feature but high values of A UV =A V is required to explain the simultaneous optical-UV data; the reddening laws for two B-type stars located behind the Taurus clouds, HD 29647 and HD 283809, meet these properties. We argue that reddening laws with these characteristics may well be representative of cold, dense molecular clouds. Spectral energy distributions and emission-line profiles of the IMTTSs are consistent with expectations from magnetospheric accretion models. We compare our simultaneous optical-UV data with predictions from accretion shock models to get accretion luminosities and mass accretion rates (Ṁ ) for the targets. We find that the average mass accretion rate for IMTTSs is 3;10Aˋ8MyrAˋ1,afactorof3 ; 10 À8 M yr À1 , a factor of 3;10Aˋ8MyrAˋ1,afactorof5 higher than that for their low-mass counterparts. The new data extend the correlation betweenṀ and stellar mass to the intermediate-mass range. Since the IMTTSs are evolutionary descendants of the Herbig Ae/ Be stars, our results put limits to the mass accretion rates of their disks. We present luminosities of the UV lines of highly ionized metals and show that they are well above the saturation limit for magnetically active cool stars but correlate strongly with accretion luminosity, indicating that they are powered by accretion, in agreement with previous claims but using a sample in which reddening and accretion luminosities have been determined self-consistently. Finally, we find that the relation between accretion luminosity and Br luminosity found for low-mass T Tauri stars extends to the intermediate-mass regime.

On the circum(sub)stellar environment of brown dwarfs in Taurus

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2007

Aims. We want to investigate whether brown dwarfs (BDs) form like stars or are ejected embryos. We study the presence of disks around BDs in the Taurus cloud, and discuss implications for substellar formation models. Methods. We use photometric measurements from the visible to the far infrared to determine the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of Taurus BDs. Results. We use Spitzer color indices, Hα as an accretion indicator, and models fit to the SEDs in order to estimate physical parameters of the disks around these BDs. We study the spatial distribution of BDs with and without disks across the Taurus aggregates, and we find that BDs with and without disks are not distributed regularly across the Taurus cloud. Conclusions. We find that 48% ± 14% of Taurus BDs have a circumstellar disk signature, a ratio similar to recent results from previous authors in other regions. We fit the SEDs and find that none of the disks around BDs in Taurus can be fitted convincingly with a flaring index β = 0, indicating that heating by the central object is efficient and that the disks we observe retain a significant amount of gas. We find that BDs with disks are proportionally more numerous in the northern Taurus filament, possibly the youngest filament. We do not find such a clear segregation for classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) and weak-lined T Tauri stars (WTTS), suggesting that, in addition to the effects of evolution, any segregation effects could be related to the mass of the object. A by-product of our study is to propose a recalibration of the Barrado y Navascués & Martín (2003) accretion limit in the substellar domain. The global shape of the limit fits our data points if it is raised by a factor 1.25-1.30.

New Low-Mass Members of the Taurus Star-forming Region

Astrophysical Journal, 2003

Briceno et al. recently used optical imaging, data from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), and follow-up spectroscopy to search for young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in 8 square degrees of the Taurus star-forming region. By the end of that study, there remained candidate members of Taurus that lacked the spectroscopic observations needed to measure spectral types and determine membership. In this work, we have obtained spectroscopy of the 22 candidates that have A_V<=8, from which we find six new Taurus members with spectral types of M2.75 through M9. The new M9 source has the second latest spectral type of the known members of Taurus (~0.02 M_sun). Its spectrum contains extremely strong emission in H_alpha (W~950 A) as well as emission in He I 6678 A and the Ca II IR triplet. This is the least massive object known to exhibit emission in He I and Ca II, which together with the strong H_alpha are suggestive of intense accretion.

The Initial Mass Function in the Taurus Star‐forming Region

Astrophysical Journal, 2002

By combining a deep optical imaging (I; z 0 ) survey of 8 deg 2 in the Taurus star-forming region with data from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) and follow-up spectroscopy, we have performed a search for low-mass Taurus members that is complete to 0.02 M for reddenings of A V d4. We report the discovery of nine new members with spectral types of M5.75-M9.5, corresponding to masses of 0.1-0.015 M by recent evolutionary models. The new M9.5 member is the least massive brown dwarf found to date in the Taurus star-forming region. We derive an initial mass function (IMF) for the fields surveyed in this work and in our previous studies, which encompass 54% of the known Taurus membership. We compare the Taurus IMF with a similarly derived one for the Trapezium Cluster and to mass functions for the M35 and Pleiades open clusters. While the IMFs in all of these regions flatten near 0.8M,themassfunctioninTaurusismorenarrowandsharplypeakedatthismass.OursurveyindicatesthatTaurushas0.8 M , the mass function in Taurus is more narrow and sharply peaked at this mass. Our survey indicates that Taurus has 0.8M,themassfunctioninTaurusismorenarrowandsharplypeakedatthismass.OursurveyindicatesthatTaurushas2 Â fewer brown dwarfs at 0.02-0.08 M than the Trapezium. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of the IMF, and suggest that the lower frequency of brown dwarfs in Taurus relative to the Trapezium may result from the low-density star-forming environment, leading to larger minimum Jeans masses.

Accretion in brown dwarfs down to nearly planetary masses

Astronomische Nachrichten, 2005

We show that in accreting ultra low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, the CaII λ8662 emission line flux correlates remarkably well with the mass accretion rate (Ṁ ), just as it does in higher mass classical T Tauri stars (CTTs). A straightforward measurement of the CaII flux thus provides an easierṀ determination technique than detailed modeling of the Hα emission line profile (except at the very lowest accretion rates, where CaII does not appear to be in emission for ultra low-mass objects, and Hα modeling is required). Using optical high-resolution spectra, we inferṀ from CaII emission for young ultra low-mass objects down to nearly the deuterium-burning (planetary-mass) limit. Our results, in combination with previous determinations ofṀ in CTTs, illustrate that the accretion rate declines steeply with mass, roughly asṀ ∝ M * 2 (albeit with considerable scatter). A similar relationship has been suggested by previous studies; we extend it down to nearly the planetary regime. The physical reason for this phenomenon is not yet clear; we discuss various possible mechanisms.

An Infrared/X-Ray Survey for New Members of the Taurus Star-Forming Region

The Astrophysical Journal, 2009

We present the results of a search for new members of the Taurus star-forming region using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the XMM-Newton Observatory. We have obtained optical and near-infrared spectra of 44 sources that exhibit red Spitzer colors that are indicative of stars with circumstellar disks and 51 candidate young stars that were identified by Scelsi and coworkers using XMM-Newton. We also performed spectroscopy on four possible companions to members of Taurus that were reported by Kraus and Hillenbrand. Through these spectra, we have demonstrated the youth and membership of 41 sources, 10 of which were independently confirmed as young stars by Scelsi and coworkers. Five of the new Taurus members are likely to be brown dwarfs based on their late spectral types (>M6). One of the brown dwarfs has a spectral type of L0, making it the first known L-type member of Taurus and the least massive known member of the region (M ∼ 4-7 M Jup). Another brown dwarf exhibits a flat infrared spectral energy distribution, which indicates that it could be in the protostellar class I stage (star+disk+envelope). Upon inspection of archival images from various observatories, we find that one of the new young stars has a large edge-on disk (r = 2. ′′ 5 = 350 AU). The scattered light from this disk has undergone significant variability on a time scale of days in optical images from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Using the updated census of Taurus, we have measured the initial mass function for the fields observed by XMM-Newton. The resulting mass function is similar to previous ones that we have reported for Taurus, showing a surplus of stars at spectral types of K7-M1 (0.6-0.8 M ⊙) relative to other nearby star-forming regions like IC 348, Chamaeleon I, and the Orion Nebula Cluster.

ACCRETION RATES FOR T TAURI STARS USING NEARLY SIMULTANEOUS ULTRAVIOLET AND OPTICAL SPECTRA

The Astrophysical Journal, 2013

We analyze the accretion properties of 21 low mass T Tauri stars using a dataset of contemporaneous near ultraviolet (NUV) through optical observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the ground based Small and Medium Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS), a unique dataset because of the nearly simultaneous broad wavelength coverage. Our dataset includes accreting T Tauri stars (CTTS) in Taurus, Chamaeleon I, η Chamaeleon and the TW Hydra Association. For each source we calculate the accretion rate (Ṁ ) by fitting the NUV and optical excesses above the photosphere, produced in the accretion shock, introducing multiple accretion components characterized by a range in energy flux (or density) for the first time. This treatment is motivated by models of the magnetospheric geometry and accretion footprints, which predict that high density, low filling factor accretion spots co-exist with low density, high filling factor spots. By fitting the UV and optical spectra with multiple accretion components, we can explain excesses which have been observed in the near infrared. Comparing our estimates ofṀ to previous estimates, we find some discrepancies; however, they may be accounted for when considering assumptions for the amount of extinction and variability in optical spectra. Therefore, we confirm many previous estimates of the accretion rate. Finally, we measure emission line luminosities from the same spectra used for theṀ estimates, to produce correlations between accretion indicators (Hβ, Ca II K, C II] and Mg II) and accretion properties obtained simultaneously.

Spitzer: Accretion in Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in the lambda Orionis Cluster

Astrophysical Journal, 2007

We present multi-wavelength optical and infrared photometry of 170 previously known low mass stars and brown dwarfs of the 5 Myr Collinder 69 cluster (Lambda Orionis). The new photometry supports cluster membership for most of them, with less than 15% of the previous candidates identified as probable non-members. The near infrared photometry allows us to identify stars with IR excesses, and we find that the Class II population is very large, around 25% for stars (in the spectral range M0 - M6.5) and 40% for brown dwarfs, down to 0.04 Msun, despite the fact that the H(alpha) equivalent width is low for a significant fraction of them. In addition, there are a number of substellar objects, classified as Class III, that have optically thin disks. The Class II members are distributed in an inhomogeneous way, lying preferentially in a filament running toward the south-east. The IR excesses for the Collinder 69 members range from pure Class II (flat or nearly flat spectra longward of 1 micron), to transition disks with no near-IR excess but excesses beginning within the IRAC wavelength range, to two stars with excess only detected at 24 micron. Collinder 69 thus appears to be at an age where it provides a natural laboratory for the study of primordial disks and their dissipation.