Brown dwarfs in star formation regions

(Lucas, Burningham, Pinfield, Riaz)

This group was responsible for the first detection of free floating planetary mass objects (IPMOs) in the Trapezium Cluster in Orion, in collaboration with Pat Roche of Oxford University.

Our research in this area is continuing, using the twin Gemini telescopes to search for less massive IPMOs in Orion and other star formation regions. The main aim of this research is to further our understanding of star formation and establish whether there is a minimum mass for objects forming via the star formation process. We are also engaged in further follow-up spectroscopy in order to better determine the temperatures, ages, masses and surface gravities of the IPMOs.

Studies in regions where star formation is still ongoing have the disadvantage that source masses cannot be determined with high precision. However this is offset by the benefits of observing the star and brown dwarf formation process in action. Features such as the Initial Mass Function (IMF), the velocity dispersion of brown dwarfs, brown dwarf accretion disks and the sub-clustering of these sources all help us to piece together the star formation process.