Young Brown Dwarfs as Giant Exoplanet Analogs

TL;DR

This paper explores the similarities between young brown dwarfs and directly-imaged exoplanets, emphasizing their atmospheric characteristics and implications for planetary studies.

Contribution

It highlights the diversity of young brown dwarfs in nearby moving groups and discusses their relevance as analogs for giant exoplanets.

Findings

Similar photometric and spectroscopic features between brown dwarfs and exoplanets

Diversity observed in age-calibrated brown dwarf samples

Implications for interpreting planetary data from brown dwarf observations

Abstract

Young brown dwarfs and directly-imaged exoplanets have enticingly similar photometric and spectroscopic characteristics, indicating that their cool, low gravity atmospheres should be studied in concert. Similarities between the peculiar shaped H band, near and mid-IR photometry as well as location on color magnitude diagrams provide important clues about how to extract physical properties of planets from current brown dwarf observations. In this proceeding we discuss systems newly assigned to 10-150 Myr nearby moving groups, highlight the diversity of this uniform age-calibrated brown dwarf sample, and reflect on their implication for understanding current and future planetary data.