Abstract
This chapter reviews our current knowledge of metal-poor ultracool dwarfs with spectral types later than M7. The current census of M, L, and T subdwarfs is explored. The main color trends of subdwarfs from the optical to the mid-infrared are described and their spectral features presented, which led to a preliminary and tentative spectral classification subject to important changes in the future when more of these metal-poor objects are discovered. Their multiplicity and the determination of their physical parameters (effective temperature, gravity, metallicity, and mass) are discussed. Finally, some suggestions and future guidelines are proposed to foster our knowledge on the oldest and coolest members of our Galaxy.
References
Allard F, Homeier D, Freytag B (2012) Models of very-low-mass stars, brown dwarfs and exoplanets. R Soc Lond Philos Trans Ser A 370:2765–2777
Allers KN, Liu MC (2013) A near-infrared spectroscopic study of young field ultracool dwarfs. ApJ 772:79
Allers KN, Jaffe DT, Luhman KL et al (2007) Characterizing young brown dwarfs using low-resolution near-infrared spectra. ApJ 657:511–520
Baraffe I, Chabrier G, Allard F, Hauschildt PH (1998) Evolutionary models for solar metallicity low-mass stars: mass-magnitude relationship and color-magnitude diagrams 337:403–412. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1998A%26A...337..403B&db_key=AST&high=3d1b390e2520250
Bowler BP, Liu MC, Dupuy TJ (2010) SDSS J141624.08+134826.7: a nearby blue L dwarf from the sloan digital sky survey. ApJ 710:45–50
Burgasser AJ (2004) Discovery of a second L subdwarf in the two micron all sky survey. ApJ 614:L73–L76
Burgasser AJ, Kirkpatrick JD (2006) Discovery of the coolest extreme subdwarf. ApJ 645: 1485–1497
Burgasser AJ, Kirkpatrick JD, Brown ME et al (2002) The spectra of T dwarfs. I. Near-infrared data and spectral classification. ApJ 564:421–451
Burgasser AJ, Kirkpatrick JD, Burrows A et al (2003) The first substellar subdwarf? Discovery of a metal-poor L dwarf with halo kinematics. ApJ 592:1186–1192
Burgasser AJ, Geballe TR, Leggett SK, Kirkpatrick JD, Golimowski DA (2006) A unified near-infrared spectral classification scheme for T dwarfs. ApJ 637:1067–1093
Burgasser AJ, Cruz KL, Kirkpatrick JD (2007) Optical spectroscopy of 2MASS color-selected ultracool subdwarfs. ApJ 657:494–510
Burgasser AJ, Vrba FJ, Lépine S et al (2008) Parallax and luminosity measurements of an L subdwarf. ApJ 672:1159–1166
Burgasser AJ, Witte S, Helling C et al (2009) Optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of the L subdwarf SDSS J125637.13-022452.4. ApJ 697:148–159
Burningham B, Cardoso CV, Smith L et al (2013) 76 T dwarfs from the UKIDSS LAS: benchmarks, kinematics and an updated space density. MNRAS 433:457–497
Chabrier G (2003) Galactic stellar and substellar initial mass function. PASP 115:763–795
Cruz KL, Kirkpatrick JD, Burgasser AJ (2009) Young L dwarfs identified in the field: a preliminary low-gravity, optical spectral sequence from L0 to L5. AJ 137:3345–3357
Cushing MC, Looper D, Burgasser AJ et al (2009) 2MASS J06164006–6407194: the first outer halo L subdwarf. ApJ 696:986–993
Cushing MC, Kirkpatrick JD, Gelino CR et al (2011) The discovery of Y dwarfs using data from the wide-field infrared survey explorer (WISE). ApJ 743:50
Dalton G, Trager SC, Abrams DC et al (2012) WEAVE: the next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel telescope. In: Ground-based and airborne instrumentation for astronomy IV. Proceedings of SPIE, vol 8446, p 84460P. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925950
de Jong RS, Barden S, Bellido-Tirado O et al (2014) 4MOST: 4-metre multi-object spectroscopic telescope. In: Ground-based and airborne instrumentation for astronomy V. Proceedings of SPIE, vol 9147, p 91470M. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055826
Drummond JD, Christou JC, Fugate RQ (1995) Full adaptive optics images of ADS 9731 and MU Cassiopeiae: orbits and masses. ApJ 450:380
Geballe TR, Knapp GR, Leggett SK et al (2002) Toward spectral classification of L and T dwarfs: infrared and optical spectroscopy and analysis. ApJ 564:466–481
Gizis JE (1997) M-Subdwarfs: spectroscopic classification and the metallicity scale. AJ 113: 806–822
Gizis JE (1998) High chromospheric activity in M subdwarfs. AJ 115:2053–2058
Gizis JE, Reid IN (1997) Probing the LHS catalog. I. New nearby stars and the coolest subdwarf. PASP 109:849–856
Gizis JE, Scholz RD, Irwin M, Jahreiss H (1997) APMPM J1523-0245 – a new high proper motion cool subdwarf. MNRAS 292:L41–L43
Helling C, Ackerman A, Allard F et al (2008) A comparison of chemistry and dust cloud formation in ultracool dwarf model atmospheres. MNRAS 391:1854–1873
Ivezic Z, Axelrod T, Brandt WN et al (2008) Large synoptic survey telescope: from science drivers to reference design. Serbian Astron J 176:1–13
Jao WC, Henry TJ, Beaulieu TD, Subasavage JP (2008) Cool subdwarf investigations. I. New thoughts on the spectral types of K and M subdwarfs. AJ 136:840–880
Jao WC, Mason BD, Hartkopf WI, Henry TJ, Ramos SN (2009) Cool subdwarf investigations. II. Multiplicity. AJ 137:3800–3808
Jao WC, Nelan EP, Henry TJ, Franz OG, Wasserman LH (2016) Cool subdwarf investigations. III. Dynamical masses of low-metallicity subdwarfs. AJ 152:153
Joy AH (1947) Radial velocities and spectral types of 181 dwarf stars. ApJ 105:96
Kirkpatrick JD, Reid IN, Liebert J et al (1999) Dwarfs cooler than “M”: the definition of spectral type “L” using discoveries from the 2 micron all-sky survey (2MASS). ApJ 519:802–833. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1999ApJ...519..802K&db_key=AST
Kirkpatrick JD, Reid IN, Liebert J et al (2000) 67 additional L dwarfs discovered by the two micron all sky survey. AJ 120:447–472. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2000AJ....120..447K&db_key=AST
Kirkpatrick JD, Gelino CR, Cushing MC et al (2012) Further defining spectral type “Y” and exploring the low-mass end of the field brown dwarf mass function. ApJ 753:156
Kirkpatrick JD, Schneider A, FAJardo-Acosta S et al (2014) The AllWISE motion survey and the quest for cold subdwarfs. ApJ 783:122
Kirkpatrick JD, Kellogg K, Schneider AC et al (2016) The AllWISE motion survey, part 2. ApJS 224:36
Leggett SK, Geballe TR, Fan X et al (2000) The missing link: early methane (“T”) dwarfs in the sloan digital sky survey. ApJ 536:L35–L38
Lépine S, Scholz RD (2008) Twenty-three new ultracool subdwarfs from the sloan digital sky survey. ApJ 681:L33–L36
Lépine S, Shara MM, Rich RM (2003) Discovery of an ultracool subdwarf: LSR 1425+7102, the first star with spectral type sdM8.0. ApJ 585:L69–L72
Lépine S, Rich RM, Shara MM (2007) Revised metallicity classes for low-mass stars: dwarfs (dM), subdwarfs (sdM), extreme subdwarfs (esdM), and ultrasubdwarfs (usdM). ApJ 669:1235–1247
Lodieu N, Scholz RD, McCaughrean MJ et al (2005) Spectroscopic classification of red high proper motion objects in the southern sky. A&A 440:1061–1078
Lodieu N, Zapatero Osorio MR, Martín EL (2009) Lucky imaging of M subdwarfs. A&A 499: 729–736
Lodieu N, Zapatero Osorio MR, Martín EL, Solano E, Aberasturi M (2010) GTC/OSIRIS spectroscopic identification of a faint L subdwarf in the UKIRT infrared deep sky survey. ApJ 708:L107–L111
Lodieu N, Espinoza Contreras M, Zapatero Osorio MR et al (2012) New ultracool subdwarfs identified in large-scale surveys using virtual observatory tools. I. UKIDSS LAS DR5 vs. SDSS DR7. A&A 542:A105
Lodieu N, Burgasser AJ, Pavlenko Y, Rebolo R (2015) A search for lithium in metal-poor L dwarfs. A&A 579:A58
Lodieu N, Espinoza Contreras M, Zapatero Osorio MR et al (2017) New ultracool subdwarfs identified in large-scale surveys using virtual observatory tools. A&A 598:A92
Mace GN, Kirkpatrick JD, Cushing MC et al (2013) The exemplar T8 subdwarf companion of wolf 1130. ApJ 777:36
Magazzu A, Rebolo R, Pavlenko IV (1992) Lithium abundances in classical and weak T Tauri stars. ApJ 392:159–171
Martín EL, Delfosse X, Basri G et al (1999) Spectroscopic classification of late-M and L field dwarfs. AJ 118:2466–2482. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1999AJ....118.2466M&db_key=AST
Mellier Y (2016) Euclid and the dark universe. In: 41st COSPAR scientific assembly, abstracts from the meeting that was to be held 30 July–7 Aug at the Istanbul Congress Center (ICC), Turkey, but was cancelled. See http://cospar2016.tubitak.gov.tr/en/, Abstract H0.2-1-16., COSPAR Meeting, vol 41
Morgan WW, Keenan PC, Kellman E (1943) An atlas of stellar spectra, with an outline of spectral classification. The University of Chicago press, Chicago
Pinfield DJ, Burningham B, Lodieu N et al (2012) Discovery of the benchmark metal-poor T8 dwarf BD +01deg 2920B. MNRAS 422:1922–1932
Rebolo R, Martín EL, Basri G, Marcy GW, Zapatero-Osorio MR (1996) Brown dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster confirmed by the lithium test. ApJ 469:L53
Reid IN, Hawley SL (2005) New light on dark stars: red dwarfs, low-mass stars, brown dwarfs. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27610-6
Riaz B, Gizis JE, Samaddar D (2008) Hubble space telescope search for M subdwarf binaries. ApJ 672:1153–1158
Savcheva AS, West AA, Bochanski JJ (2014) A new sample of cool subdwarfs from SDSS: properties and kinematics. ApJ 794:145
Schmidt M (1975) The mass of the galactic halo derived from the luminosity function of high-velocity stars. ApJ 202:22–29
Schmidt SJ, West AA, Burgasser AJ, Bochanski JJ, Hawley SL (2010) Discovery of an unusually blue L dwarf within 10 pc of the sun. AJ 139:1045–1050
Scholz RD, Lehmann I, Matute I, Zinnecker H (2004a) The nearest cool white dwarf (d ∼4 pc), the coolest M-type subdwarf (sdM9.5), and other high proper motion discoveries. A&A 425: 519–527
Scholz RD, Lodieu N, McCaughrean MJ (2004b) SSSPM J1444–2019: an extremely high proper motion, ultracool subdwarf. A&A 428:L25–L28
Schweitzer A, Scholz RD, Stauffer J, Irwin M, McCaughrean MJ (1999) APMPM J0559–2903: the coolest extreme subdwarf known. A&A 350:L62–L64
Sivarani T, Lépine S, Kembhavi AK, Gupchup J (2009) SDSS J125637–022452: a high proper motion L subdwarf. ApJ 694:L140–L143
Zhang ZH, Pinfield DJ, Burningham B et al (2013) A spectroscopic and proper motion search of sloan digital sky survey: red subdwarfs in binary systems. MNRAS 434:1005–1027
Zhang ZH, Homeier D, Pinfield DJ et al (2017a) Primeval very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs – II. The most metal-poor substellar object. MNRAS 468:261–271
Zhang ZH, Pinfield DJ, Gálvez-Ortiz MC et al (2017b) Primeval very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs – I. Six new L subdwarfs, classification and atmospheric properties. MNRAS 464:3040–3059
Acknowledgements
NL is supported by programme AYA2015-69350-C3-2-P from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). NL thanks ZengHua Zhang for his input on the review.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Lodieu, N. (2018). Metal-Depleted Brown Dwarfs. In: Deeg, H., Belmonte, J. (eds) Handbook of Exoplanets . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_173-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_173-1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30648-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30648-3
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics