arXiv subjects

Bertrand Goldman

Publications and source records attributed to Bertrand Goldman.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

The substellar mass function in the central region of the open cluster Praesepe from deep LBT observations

Studies of the mass function (MF) of open clusters of different ages allow us to probe the efficiency with which brown dwarfs evaporate from clusters to populate the field. Surveys of older clusters (age >100 Myr) are not affected so severely by several problems encountered in young clusters, such as intra-cluster extinction and large uncertainties in brown dwarf models. We present the results of a deep photometric survey to study the MF of the central region of the old open cluster Praesepe (age~590$^{+150}_{-120}$ Myr, distance ~190$^{+6.0}_{-5.8}$ pc), down to the substellar regime. We performed an optical ($riz$ and $Y$-band) photometric survey of Praesepe using the Large Binocular Telescope Camera covering an area of ~0.59 deg$^2$ in the cluster centre from $i$~19.0 mag (~100 M_Jup) down to a 5$σ$ detection limit at $i$~25.6mag (~40 M_Jup). The survey is approximately 95% complete at $i=23.8$ mag and $z=22.0$ mag (~55 M_Jup). We identify 59 cluster member candidates, of which 37 are substellar, by comparing with the predictions of a dusty atmosphere model. The MF of those candidates rises from the substellar boundary until ~67 M_Jup and then declines. This is quite different from the form inferred for other open clusters older than 50 Myr, but seems to be similar to those found in very young open clusters, the MFs of which peak at ~10 M_Jup. Either Praesepe really does have a different MF from other clusters or they had similar initial MFs but a different dynamical evolution. Since most of the candidates are faint, we lack astrometric or spectroscopic follow-ups to test their memberships. However, the contaminations by field dwarfs, galaxies, or giants are found to have little effect on the shape of MF and therefore the MF of `real' cluster members should have similar characteristics.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Parallaxes of Southern Extremely Cool objects - I: Targets, Proper motions and first results

We present results from the PARallaxes of Southern Extremely Cool objects (PARSEC) program, an observational program begun in April 2007 to determine parallaxes for 122 L and 28 T southern hemisphere dwarfs using the Wide Field Imager on the ESO 2.2m telescope. The results presented here include parallaxes of 10 targets from observations over 18 months and a first version proper motion catalog. The proper motions were obtained by combining PARSEC observations astrometrically reduced with respect to the UCAC2 Catalog, and the 2MASS Catalog. The resulting median proper motion precision is 5mas/yr for 195,700 sources. The 140 0.3deg2 fields sample the southern hemisphere in an unbiased fashion with the exception of the galactic plane due to the small number of targets in that region. We present preliminary parallaxes with a 4.2 mas median precision for 10 brown dwarfs, 2 of which are within 10pc. These increase by 20% the present number of L dwarfs with published parallaxes. Of the 10 targets, 7 have been previously discussed in the literature: two were thought to be binary but the PARSEC observations show them to be single, one has been confirmed as a binary companion and another has been found to be part of a binary system, both of which will make good benchmark systems. Observations for the PARSEC program will end in early 2011 providing 3-4 years of coverage for all targets. The main expected outputs are: more than a 100% increase of the number of L dwarfs with parallaxes; to increment - in conjuction with published results - to at least 10 the number of objects per spectral subclass up to L9, and; to put sensible limits on the general binary fraction of brown dwarfs. We aim to contribute significantly to the understanding of the faint end of the H-R diagram and of the L/T transition region.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2009

Search for very low-mass brown dwarfs and free-floating planetary-mass objects in Taurus

The number of low-mass brown dwarfs and even free floating planetary mass objects in young nearby star-forming regions and associations is continuously increasing, offering the possibility to study the low-mass end of the IMF in greater detail. In this paper, we present six new candidates for (very) low-mass objects in the Taurus star-forming region one of which was recently discovered in parallel by Luhman et al. (2009). The underlying data we use is part of a new database from a deep near-infrared survey at the Calar Alto observatory. The survey is more than four magnitudes deeper than the 2MASS survey and covers currently ~1.5 square degree. Complementary optical photometry from SDSS were available for roughly 1.0 square degree. After selection of the candidates using different color indices, additional photometry from Spitzer/IRAC was included in the analysis. In greater detail we focus on two very faint objects for which we obtained J-band spectra. Based on comparison with reference spectra we derive a spectral type of L2+/-0.5 for one object, making it the object with the latest spectral type in Taurus known today. From models we find the effective temperature to be 2080+/-140 K and the mass 5-15 Jupiter masses. For the second source the J-band spectrum does not provide a definite proof of the young, low-mass nature of the object as the expected steep water vapor absorption at 1.33 micron is not present in the data. We discuss the probability that this object might be a background giant or carbon star. If it were a young Taurus member, however, a comparison to theoretical models suggests that it lies close to or even below the deuterium burning limit (<13 Jupiter masses) as well. A first proper motion analysis for both objects shows that they are good candidates for being Taurus members.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2000

Eros 2 proper motion survey for halo white dwarfs

Since 1996 EROS 2 has surveyed 440 square degrees at high Galactic latitude in order to search for high proper motion stars in the Solar neighbourhood. We present here the analysis of 250 square degrees for which we have three years of data. No object with halo-like kinematics has been detected. Using a detailed Monte-Carlo simulation of the observations, we calculate our detection efficiency for this kind of object and place constraints on their contribution to various halo models. If 14 Gyr old, the halo cannot be made of more than 18% of hydrogen white dwarfs (95% C.L.).

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

An Effective Temperature Scale for Late M and L Dwarfs, from Resonance Absorption Lines of CsI and RbI

We present Keck HIRES spectra of 6 late-M dwarfs and 11 L dwarfs. Our goal is to assign effective temperatures to the objects using detailed atmospheric models and fine analysis of the alkali resonance absorption lines of CsI and RbI. These yield mutually consistent results (+-150 K) when we use ``cleared-dust'' models, which account for the removal of refractory species from the molecular states but do not include dust opacities. We find a tendency for the RbI line to imply a slightly higher temperature, which we ascribe to an incomplete treatment of the overlying molecular opacities. The final effective temperatures we adopt are based on the CsI fits alone, though the RbI fits support the CsI temperature sequence. This work, in combination with results from the infrared, hints that dust in these atmospheres has settled out of the high atmosphere but is present in the deep photosphere. We also derive radial and rotational velocities for all the objects, finding that the previously discovered trend of rapid rotation for very low mass objects is quite pervasive. To improve on our analysis, there is a clear need for better molecular line lists and a more detailed understanding of dust formation and dynamics.

astro-ph↗