https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20111606002
Understanding sub-stellar populations using wide-field infrared surveys
1 Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK
2 Department of Astronomy, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile
3 Gemini Observatory, 670 N. A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
4 National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
5 University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
6 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
7 Georg-August-Universitat, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Gottingen, Germany
8 Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, 38200 La Laguna, Spain
9 MIT Kavli Institute, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
10 Laboratorio de Astrofisica Estelar y Exoplanetas (LAEX), Spain
11 Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
12 Subaru Telescope, 650 North A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
13 Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
a e-mail: D.J.Pinfield@herts.ac.uk
This paper discusses benchmark brown dwarfs in various environments, and focuses on those in wide binary systems. We present a summary of the recently discovered T dwarf population from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey, and describe the constraints that it places on our knowledge of the sub-stellar initial mass function. We also present some exciting results from our ongoing search for wide companions to this sample, that has so far revealed an M4-T8.5 binary system at ∼12 parsecs and also the first ever Tdwarf-white dwarf binary system. The T dwarfs in these binaries have their properties constrained by the primary object and are thus benchmark objects that are already testing the predictions of theoretical model atmospheres.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2011