WISEP J004701.06+680352.1: An intermediate surface gravity, dusty brown dwarf in the AB Dor Moving Group

TL;DR

This paper characterizes the brown dwarf WISEP J004701.06+680352.1 as a member of the AB Dor Moving Group, revealing its intermediate surface gravity, dusty atmosphere, and implications for substellar atmospheric models.

Contribution

It provides detailed spectroscopic and astrometric analysis confirming the brown dwarf's group membership and discusses the impact of intermediate gravity on cloud properties and spectral features.

Findings

W0047+68 is a member of the AB Dor Moving Group.

The brown dwarf has an intermediate surface gravity (log g ~ 4.5).

Thick clouds are more sensitive to gravity than in most models.

Abstract

We present spectroscopy, astrometry, and photometry of the brown dwarf WISEP J004701.06+680352.1 (W0047+68), an unusually red field L dwarf at a distance of $12.2 \pm 0.4$ parsecs. The three-dimensional space motion identifies it as a member of the AB Dor Moving Group, an identification supported by our classification of W0047+68 as intermediate surface gravity (INT-G) using the Allers \& Liu (2013) near-infrared classification system. This moving group membership implies near-solar metallicity, age $\sim 100-125$ Myr, $M \approx 0.018~M_\odot$, and $\log g \approx 4.5$; the thick condensate clouds needed to explain the infrared spectrum are therefore a result of the lower surface gravity than ordinary field brown dwarfs. From the observed luminosity and evolutionary model radius, we find $T_{eff} \approx 1300 $K, a temperature normally associated with early T dwarfs. Thick clouds are also used to explain the spectral properties of directly imaged giant planets, and we discuss the successes and challenges for such substellar models in matching the observed optical and infrared spectra. W0047+68 shows that cloud thickness is more sensitive to intermediate surface gravity than in most models. We also present a trigonometric parallax of the dusty L6 dwarf 2MASS J21481628+4003593. It lies at $8.060 \pm 0.036$ parsecs; its astrometry is consistent with the view that it is older and metal-rich.