Four new T dwarfs identified in PanSTARRS 1 commissioning data

TL;DR

This study uses Pan-STARRS 1 data combined with 2MASS to discover four new T dwarfs, demonstrating the survey's effectiveness in identifying nearby ultracool objects missed by previous searches.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new method combining optical and near-IR data from PS1 and 2MASS to identify ultracool dwarfs, discovering four new T dwarfs, including some missed by prior surveys.

Findings

Discovered four new T dwarfs using PS1 and 2MASS data.

Three of the T dwarfs are within 25 pc and were previously missed.

The method enhances the census of nearby ultracool objects.

Abstract

A complete well-defined sample of ultracool dwarfs is one of the key science programs of the Pan-STARRS 1 optical survey telescope (PS1). Here we combine PS1 commissioning data with 2MASS to conduct a proper motion search (0.1--2.0\arcsec/yr) for nearby T dwarfs, using optical+near-IR colors to select objects for spectroscopic followup. The addition of sensitive far-red optical imaging from PS1 enables discovery of nearby ultracool dwarfs that cannot be identified from 2MASS data alone. We have searched 3700 sq. deg. of PS1 y-band (0.95--1.03 um) data to y$\approx$19.5 mag (AB) and J$\approx$16.5 mag (Vega) and discovered four previously unknown bright T dwarfs. Three of the objects (with spectral types T1.5, T2 and T3.5) have photometric distances within 25 pc and were missed by previous 2MASS searches due to more restrictive color selection criteria. The fourth object (spectral type T4.5) is more distant than 25 pc and is only a single-band detection in 2MASS. We also examine the potential for completing the census of nearby ultracool objects with the PS1 3$\pi$ survey.