Searching for Brown Dwarf Outflows

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of five brown dwarf outflows using spectro-astrometry on optical spectra, supporting the idea that brown dwarfs can drive outflows similar to low-mass protostars.

Contribution

It demonstrates the effectiveness of spectro-astrometry in detecting brown dwarf outflows and provides new observational evidence of outflow activity in brown dwarfs.

Findings

Five brown dwarf outflows discovered to date.

Spectro-astrometry proves effective for detecting faint outflows.

Supports the link between accretion and outflow activity in brown dwarfs.

Abstract

As outflow activity in low mass protostars is strongly connected to ac- cretion it is reasonable to expect accreting brown dwarfs to also be driving out- flows. In the last three years we have searched for brown dwarf outflows using high quality optical spectra obtained with UVES on the VLT and the technique of spectro-astrometry. To date five brown dwarf outflows have been discovered. Here the method is discussed and the results to date outlined.