Surprisingly Weak Magnetism on Young Accreting Brown Dwarfs

TL;DR

This study measures magnetic fields on young brown dwarfs and finds they are significantly weaker than in similar-mass stars, challenging existing models of magnetic activity and accretion in low-mass objects.

Contribution

It provides the first direct measurements showing that young brown dwarfs have weaker magnetic fields than expected, suggesting different magnetic field generation or accretion processes.

Findings

Magnetic fields in young brown dwarfs are 5+ times weaker than in young stars.

Magnetic flux upper limits are below 1 kG for the studied brown dwarfs.

Magnetic field strength does not scale with age or rotation as in stars.

Abstract

We have measured the surface magnetic flux on four accreting young brown dwarfs and one non-accreting young very low-mass star utilizing high resolution spectra of absorption lines of the FeH molecule. A magnetic field of 1-2 kG had been proposed for one of the brown dwarfs, 2MASS J1207334$-$393254, because of its similarities to higher mass T Tauri stars as manifested in accretion and the presence of a jet. We do not find clear evidence for a kilo-Gauss field in any of our young brown dwarfs but do find a 2 kG field on the young VLM star. Our 3-$\sigma$ upper limit for the magnetic flux in 2MASS J1207334$-$393254 just reaches 1 kG. We estimate the magnetic field required for accretion in young brown dwarfs given the observed rotations, and find that fields of only a few hundred Gauss are sufficient for magnetospheric accretion. This predicted value is less than our observed upper limit. We conclude that magnetic fields in young brown dwarfs are a factor of five or more lower than in young stars of about one solar mass, and in older stars with spectral types similar to our young brown dwarfs. It is interesting that, during the first few million years, the fields scale down with mass in line with what is needed for magnetospheric accretion, yet no such scaling is observed at later ages within the same effective temperature range. This scaling is opposite to the trend in rotation, with shorter rotation periods for very young accreting brown dwarfs compared with accreting solar-mass objects (and very low Rossby numbers in all cases). We speculate that in young objects a deeper intrinsic connection may exist between magnetospheric accretion and magnetic field strength, or that magnetic field generation in brown dwarfs may be less efficient than in stars. Neither of these currently have an easy physical explanation.