Cited by 693Stellar, planetary, and galactic studiesAstrophysics and Star Formation StudiesAstronomy and Astrophysical Research

The Evolution of L and T Dwarfs in Color‐Magnitude Diagrams

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Saumon, D., Marley, Mark S.·2008·The Astrophysical Journal

Abstract

We present new evolution sequences for very low mass stars, brown dwarfs, and giant planets and use them to explore a variety of influences on the evolution of these objects. While the predicted adiabatic evolution of luminosity with time is very similar to results of previous work, the remaining disagreements reveal the magnitude of current uncertainty in brown dwarf evolution theory. We discuss the sources of those differences and argue for the importance of the surface boundary condition provided by atmosphere models including clouds. The L- to T-type ultracool dwarf transition can be accommodated within the Ackerman and Marley cloud model by varying the cloud sedimentation parameter. We develop a simple model for the evolution across the L/T transition. By combining the evolution calculation and our atmosphere models, we generate colors and magnitudes of synthetic populations of ultracool dwarfs in the field and in Galactic clusters. We focus on near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and on the nature of the "second parameter" that is responsible for the scatter of colors along the T eff sequence. Instead of a single second parameter we find that variations in metallicity and cloud parameters, unresolved binaries, and possibly a relatively young population all play a role in defining the spread of brown dwarfs along the cooling sequence. We also find that the transition from cloudy L dwarfs to cloudless T dwarfs slows down the evolution and causes a pileup of substellar objects in the transition region, in contradiction with previous studies. However, the same model is applied to the Pleiades brown dwarf sequence with less success. Taken at face value, the present Pleiades data suggest that the L/T transition occurs at lower T eff for lower gravity objects, such as those found in young Galactic clusters. The simulated populations of brown dwarfs also reveal that the phase of deuterium burning produces a distinctive feature in CMDs that should be detectable in ~50-100 Myr old clusters.

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  • The mass of the secondary is substellar (below 80 M_Jup for solar composition) for many periods, with the exception of a region of stellar mass at 5.5 yr and 11 yr.

    “The figure shows that the mass of the secondary is substellar (below 80 M Jup for solar composition; Saumon & Marley 2008) 7 for many periods, with the exception of a region of stellar mass at 5.5 yr and 11 yr.”

    From Mass and period limits on the ringed companion transiting the young star J1407 (2015) · cites this paper as Saumon & Marley 2008

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Baraffe, I., Chabrier, G., Allard, F., & Hauschildt, P. H. 2001, in ASP Conf. Ser. 243, From Darkness to Light, ed. T. Montmerle & P. Andre ´(San Francisco: ASP), 571
  2. Cruz, K. L., Kirkpatrick, J. D., Burgasser, A. J., Looper, D. L., Mohanty, S., Prato, L., Faherty, J., & Solomon, A. 2008, in ASP Conf. Ser. 384, 14th Cam- bridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar, Systems and the Sun, ed. G. van Belle (San Francisco: ASP), 119
  3. Dupuy, T. J., Liu, M. C., & Ireland, M. J. 2008, ApJ, in press (arXiv:0807.2450) · arXiv
  4. ---. 2006, in Astrophysics Update 2, Topical and Timely Reviews on Astrophysics, ed. J. W. Mason ( Heidelberg: Springer), 1

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Authors
Saumon, D., & Marley, M. S.
Affiliations
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
  • Ames Research Center (US)
Venue
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2008-12-20
Volume
689
Issue
2
Pages
1327-1344
ISSN
  • 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
  • 1538-4357
OpenAlex
W2028553841
Cited by
693
References
109
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 53 · 2015: 39 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 25
FWCI
14.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Instrumentation › Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Keywords
brown dwarf evolution, L dwarfs, T dwarfs, ultracool dwarfs, color-magnitude diagram, L/T transition, atmospheric models, deuterium burning, metallicity, unresolved binaries, Pleiades, open clusters, substellar objects, giant planets

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