THE DISCOVERY OF Y DWARFS USING DATA FROM THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER (WISE)

By M. Cushing, J. D. Kirkpatrick, C. Gelino, R. Griffith, M. Skrutskie, A. Mainzer, Kenneth A. Marsh, C. Beichman, A. Burgasser, L. Prato and 6 more. 2011

255 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present the discovery of seven ultracool brown dwarfs identified with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals deep absorption bands of H2O and CH4 that indicate all seven of the brown dwarfs have spectral types later than UGPS J072227.51−054031.2, the latest-type T dwarf currently known. The spectrum of WISEP J182831.08+265037.8 is distinct in that the heights of the J- and H-band peaks are approximately equal in units of fλ, so we identify it as the archetypal member of the Y spectral class. The spectra of at least two of the other brown dwarfs exhibit absorption on the blue wing of the H-band peak that we tentatively ascribe to NH3. These spectral morphological changes provide a clear transition between the T dwarfs and the Y dwarfs. In order to produce a smooth near-infrared spectral sequence across the T/Y dwarf transition, we have reclassified UGPS 0722−05 as the T9 spectral standard and tentatively assign WISEP J173835.52+273258.9 as the Y0 spectral standard. In total, six of the seven new brown dwarfs are classified as Y dwarfs: four are classified as Y0, one is classified as Y0 (pec?), and WISEP J1828+2650 is classified as >Y0. We have also compared the spectra to the model atmospheres of Marley and Saumon and infer that the brown dwarfs have effective temperatures ranging from 300 K to 500 K, making them the coldest spectroscopically confirmed brown dwarfs known to date.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ac9b82cdf6653f777a1c1402cfd2e101653edb86

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. Michael C. Liu
2. T. Dupuy
3. K. Luhman
4. A. Burgasser
5. M. Marley
6. Kelle Cruz
7. J. D. Kirkpatrick
8. K. Allers

In Instrumentation

1. Michael C. Liu
2. T. Dupuy
3. A. Burgasser
4. K. Luhman
5. J. D. Kirkpatrick
6. Kelle Cruz
7. M. Marley
8. K. Allers

Citations in the corpus

• IDENTIFICATION OF 1.4 MILLION ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN THE MID-INFRARED USING WISE DATA (2015, background): “%) of Type 1 AGNs (emission line widths > 1500 km s−1); the remainder are almost entirely 3 See Kirkpatrick et al. (2011); Cushing et al. (2011); Mace et al. (2013); Cushing et al. (2014) for some samples of brown dwarfs discovered with WISE.”
• NEGLECTED CLOUDS IN T AND Y DWARF ATMOSPHERES (2012, methodology): “We have obtained near-infrared photometry for two proposed Y0 dwarfs discovered using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) by Cushing et al. (2011).”
• BANYAN. VII. A NEW POPULATION OF YOUNG SUBSTELLAR CANDIDATE MEMBERS OF NEARBY MOVING GROUPS FROM THE BASS SURVEY (2015, background): “…et al. (2010); Beichman et al. (2014); Burgasser et al. (2006); Burningham et al. (2008, 2013); Castro et al. (2013); Costa et al. (2005, 2006); Cushing et al. (2011); Deacon et al. (2014); Delorme et al. (2008a,b); Dieterich et al. (2014); Faherty et al. (2013); Hawley et al. (2002); Kendall…”
• MID-INFRARED SELECTION OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI WITH THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER. I. CHARACTERIZING WISE-SELECTED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN COSMOS (2012, background): “Kirkpatrick et al. (2011) show that stars of spectral class later (e.g., cooler) than ∼ T1 have W1 − W2 ≥ 0.8; these red colors are caused by methane absorption in the W1 band (see also Cushing et al. 2011).”
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• The Field Substellar Mass Function Based on the Full-sky 20 pc Census of 525 L, T, and Y Dwarfs (2020, methodology): “…et al. 2011, (5) Albert et al. 2011, (6) Tinney et al. 2018, (7) Pinfield et al. 2014b, (8) Mace et al. 2013, (9) Schneider et al. 2015, (10) Cushing et al. 2011, (11) Mainzer et al. 2011, (12) Kirkpatrick et al. 2013, (13) Pinfield et al. 2014a, (14) Luhman 2014a, (15) Kirkpatrick et al.…”
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