A Constraint on brown dwarf formation via ejection: radial variation of the stellar and substellar mass function of the young open cluster IC2391

TL;DR

This study investigates the distribution of stellar and substellar objects in the young open cluster IC2391, providing insights into brown dwarf formation and the effects of ejection mechanisms across different radial zones.

Contribution

It offers the first detailed radial variation analysis of the stellar and substellar mass function in IC2391, testing ejection-based brown dwarf formation theories.

Findings

Radial variation observed in the substellar mass function.

Evidence supporting ejection as a formation mechanism for brown dwarfs.

Comprehensive photometric and spectroscopic data of IC2391.

Abstract

Using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at the ESO 2.2m telescope at La Silla and the CPAPIR camera at the CTIO 1.5m telescope at Cerro Tololo, we have performed an extensive, multiband photometric survey of the open cluster IC2391 (D~146pc, age~50Myr, solar metallicity). Here we present the results from our photometric survey and from a spectroscopic follow-up of the central part of the survey.