The ultracool eld dwarfs luminosity function from the Canada-France Brown Dwarf Survey

TL;DR

This study uses the Canada-France Brown Dwarf Survey to identify ultracool brown dwarfs and analyze their luminosity function, providing insights into the population and distribution of these objects in the galaxy.

Contribution

It presents a large, homogeneous sample of L and T dwarfs from a wide-field survey, enabling a detailed study of their luminosity function and mass distribution.

Findings

Identified 50 T dwarf candidates and 170 L or late M dwarf candidates.

Survey covers 900 square degrees with a sample of 1300 candidates.

Completed NIR follow-up on a large subset for detailed analysis.

Abstract

The Canada-France Brown Dwarf Survey is a wide eld survey for cool brown dwarfs conducted with the MegaCam camera on the CFHT telescope. Our objectives are to nd ultracool brown dwarfs and to constrain the eld brown dwarf mass function from a large and homogeneous sample of L and T dwarfs. We identify candidates in CFHT/Megacam i' and z' images and follow them up with pointed NIR imaging on several telescopes. Our survey has to date found 50 T dwarfs candidates and 170 L or late M dwarf candidates drawn from a larger sample of 1300 candidates with typical ultracool dwarfs i'-z' colours, found in 900 square degrees. We currently have completed the NIR follow-up on a large part of the survey for all candidates from the latest T dwarfs known to the late L color range. This allows us to build on a complete and well de ned sample of ultracool dwarfs to investigate the luminosity function of eld L and T dwarfs.