SONYC - Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters

TL;DR

The SONYC survey investigates the lowest mass free-floating objects in young clusters using deep imaging and spectroscopy, revealing potential mass function cutoffs and new brown dwarfs near the deuterium-burning limit.

Contribution

This study provides the first comprehensive census of substellar objects in multiple young clusters using deep multi-wavelength observations.

Findings

Evidence for a mass function cutoff at 10-20 Jupiter masses in NGC 1333

Discovery of a new brown dwarf near the deuterium-burning limit in rho Ophiuchus

Probing the bottom end of the initial mass function with unprecedented depth

Abstract

The origin of the lowest mass free-floating objects -- brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects -- is one of the major unsolved problems in star formation. Establishing a census of young substellar objects is a fundamental prerequisite for distinguishing between competing theoretical scenarios. Such a census allows us to probe the initial mass function (IMF), binary statistics, and properties of accretion disks. Our SONYC (Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters) survey relies on extremely deep wide-field optical and near-infrared imaging, with follow-up spectroscopy, in combination with Spitzer photometry to probe the bottom end of the IMF to unprecedented levels. Here we present SONYC results for three different regions: NGC 1333, rho Ophiuchus and Chamaeleon-I. In NGC 1333, we find evidence for a possible cutoff in the mass function at 10-20 Jupiter masses. In rho Oph we report a new brown dwarf with a mass close to the deuterium-burning limit.