Gaia and brown dwarfs from Spain

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential of Gaia data to identify and catalog approximately 500 brown dwarfs, creating a valuable resource for substellar research with contributions from Spanish observatories.

Contribution

It proposes the creation of a comprehensive Gaia brown dwarf catalogue, integrating astrometry, photometry, spectroscopy, and astrophysical parameters, with Spanish observatories playing a key role.

Findings

Identification of ~500 brown dwarfs with Gaia data

Proposal for a virtual observatory-compliant catalogue

Spanish observatories' involvement in catalogue preparation

Abstract

Gaia will not observe 50000 brown dwarfs, but about 100 times less. However, these <~ 500 brown dwarfs will be benchmarks for many substellar topics. It is possible to identify them in advance and make the list public to all astronomers worldwide through a virtual observatory-compliant "Gaia brown dwarf" catalogue. This M-, L- and T-dwarf Archive of Interest for Astrophysics would tabulate precise Gaia astrometry, multiband photometry, high- and low-resolution spectroscopy and homogeneously derived astrophysical parameters. Spanish observatories may play a key role in the catalogue preparation.