Probing the Upper Scorpius mass function in the planetary-mass regime

Lodieu, N.; Dobbie, P. D.; Cross, N. J. G.; Hambly, N. C.; Read, M. A.; Blake, R. P.; Floyd, D. J. E.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 435, Issue 3, p.2474-2482

Advertised on:
11
2013
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
23
Refereed citations
20
Description
We present the results of a deep ZYJ near-infrared survey of 13.5 deg2 in the Upper Scorpius (USco) OB association. We photometrically selected ˜100 cluster member candidates with masses in the range of 30-5 Jupiters, according to state-of-the-art evolutionary models. We identified 67 ZYJ candidates as bona fide members, based on complementary photometry and astrometry. We also extracted five candidates detected with Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy at YJ only. One is excluded using deep optical z-band imaging, while two are likely non-members, and three remain as potential members. We conclude that the USco mass function is more likely decreasing in the planetary-mass regime (although a flat mass function cannot yet be discarded), consistent with surveys in other regions.
Related projects
Discovery of a system of super-Earths orbiting the star HD 176986 with about 5.7 and 9.2 Earth masses.
Very Low Mass Stars, Brown Dwarfs and Planets
Our goal is to study the processes that lead to the formation of low mass stars, brown dwarfs and planets and to characterize the physical properties of these objects in various evolutionary stages. Low mass stars and brown dwarfs are likely the most numerous type of objects in our Galaxy but due to their low intrinsic luminosity they are not so
Rafael
Rebolo López