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arXiv 0801.2371astro-ph
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CLOUDS搜寻棕矮星大气的变化

CLOUDS search for variability in brown dwarf atmospheres

B. Goldman, M. C. Cushing, M. S. Marley, É. Artigau, K. S. Baliyan, V. J. S. Béjar, J. A. Caballero, N. Chanover, M. Connelley, R. Doyon, T. Forveille, S. Ganes… 展开作者

B. Goldman, M. C. Cushing, M. S. Marley, É. Artigau, K. S. Baliyan, V. J. S. Béjar, J. A. Caballero, N. Chanover, M. Connelley, R. Doyon, T. Forveille, S. Ganesh, C. R. Gelino, H. B. Hammel, J. Holtzman, S. Joshi, U. C. Joshi, S. K. Leggett, M. C. Liu, E. L. Martín, V. Mohan, D. Nadeau, R. Sagar, D. Stephens

摘要:

背景:L型超冷矮星和褐矮星有多云的大气层,可以容纳类似天气的现象。对光度或光谱变化的探测将提供对未解决的大气不均匀性的深入了解,例如全球云层中的洞。目的:有人提出,增长的不均匀性在全球云层甲板可能占L-T型过渡的棕矮星光球从多云到清晰的条件。这种机制与可变性是相容的。为了验证这一假设,我们寻找了5颗L 6到T6棕矮星光谱的变化。方法:我们使用VLT/ISAAC,在0.99- 1.13 μ m,和IRTF/SpeX获得了我们的两个目标,在J,H和K波段的光谱时间序列。我们寻找统计变量线和它们之间的相关性。结果:在某些物体中观察到高频谱频率变化,但这些检测是边缘性的,需要确认。我们没有发现大幅度变化的光谱形态的证据,我们把公司的上限为2至3%的宽带变化,在几个小时的时间尺度上。T2转换棕矮星SDSS J1254-0122显示出许多可变的特征,但安全的可变性诊断需要进一步的观测。结论:假设任何变化都是由表面上大规模晴朗和多云区域的模式旋转引起的,我们发现,对于我们的四个目标,云量破坏的典型物理尺度应该小于磁盘面积的5-8%。在SDSS J1254-0122中看到的可能变化不足以让我们确认云破裂假设。

英文摘要:

Context: L-type ultra-cool dwarfs and brown dwarfs have cloudy atmospheres that could host weather-like phenomena. The detection of photometric or spectral variability would provide insight into unresolved atmospheric heterogeneities, such as holes in a global cloud deck. Aims: It has been proposed that growth of heterogeneities in the global cloud deck may account for the L- to T-type transition as brown dwarf photospheres evolve from cloudy to clear conditions. Such a mechanism is compatible with variability. We searched for variability in the spectra of five L6 to T6 brown dwarfs in order to test this hypothesis. Methods: We obtained spectroscopic time series using VLT/ISAAC, over 0.99-1.13um, and IRTF/SpeX for two of our targets, in J, H and K bands. We search for statistically variable lines and correlation between those. Results: High spectral-frequency variations are seen in some objects, but these detections are marginal and need to be confirmed. We find no evidence for large amplitude variations in spectral morphology and we place firm upper limits of 2 to 3% on broad-band variability, on the time scale of a few hours. The T2 transition brown dwarf SDSS J1254-0122 shows numerous variable features, but a secure variability diagnosis would require further observations. Conclusions: Assuming that any variability arises from the rotation of patterns of large-scale clear and cloudy regions across the surface, we find that the typical physical scale of cloud cover disruption should be smaller than 5-8% of the disk area for four of our targets. The possible variations seen in SDSS J1254-0122 are not strong enough to allow us to confirm the cloud breaking hypothesis.

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