Physical parameters of late M-type members of Chamaleon I and TW Hydrae Association: Dust settling, age dispersion and activity

TL;DR

This study investigates the physical parameters of late M-type stars in Chamaeleon I and TW Hydrae, focusing on dust settling, age dispersion, and activity, to better understand their evolution and formation mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a VO-based spectral index sensitive to temperature and age, and compares physical parameters across different young clusters and field dwarfs.

Findings

Identification of two brown dwarfs with similar temperatures but different surface gravities.

Confirmation of age/luminosity spread as a common feature in young M dwarfs.

Highlighting the need for improved models to reproduce optical and near-infrared features.

Abstract

Although mid-to-late type M dwarfs are the most common stars in our stellar neighborhood, our knowledge of these objects is still limited. Open questions include the evolution of their angular momentum, internal structures, dust settling in their atmospheres, age dispersion within populations. In addition, at young ages, late-type Ms have masses below the hydrogen burning limit and therefore are key objects in the debate on the brown dwarf mechanism of formation. In this work we determine and study in detail the physical parameters of two samples of young, late M-type sources belonging to either the Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud or the TW Hydrae Association and compare them with the results obtained in the literature for other young clusters and also for older, field, dwarfs. We used multi-wavelength photometry to construct and analyze SEDs to determine general properties of the photosphere and disk presence. We also used low resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy to study activity, accretion, gravity and effective temperature sensitive indicators. We propose a VO-based spectral index that is both temperature and age sensitive. We derived physical parameters using independent techniques confirming the already common feature/problem of the age/luminosity spread. In particular, we highlight two brown dwarfs showing very similar temperatures but clearly different surface gravity (explained invoking extreme early accretion). We also show how, despite large improvement in the dust treatment in theoretical models, there is still room for further progress in the simultaneous reproduction of the optical and near-infrared features of these cold young objects.