The Y Dwarf Population with HST: unlocking the secrets of our coolest neighbours -- III. Near-Infrared Photometry

TL;DR

This study provides a comprehensive near-infrared photometric dataset for 21 Y dwarfs using HST, revealing well-defined sequences and systematic model discrepancies crucial for understanding the coolest brown dwarfs and refining atmospheric models.

Contribution

It presents a uniform, high-precision near-infrared photometric compilation for Y dwarfs, improving the empirical basis for testing and developing atmospheric models at very low temperatures.

Findings

Y dwarfs form tight sequences in colour-magnitude diagrams.

Systematic discrepancies exist between observed colours and model predictions.

Low-metallicity models best fit the overall population, but with caveats.

Abstract

Y dwarfs represent the coldest class of brown dwarfs, with effective temperatures below 500K, and provide unique analogues to cold giant exoplanets. We present a large compilation of uniform near-infrared photometry from the Hubble Space Telescope for 21 Y dwarfs across multiple WFC3/IR filters, including the F105W, F125W and F160W bands. We employed refined PSF-fitting and calibration procedures to reach photometric uncertainties at the 0.02-0.05 mag level for most targets. Combined with precise parallax measurements, our data reveal well-defined Y-dwarf sequences in near-infrared colour-magnitude diagrams, observed with a markedly improved tightness. Known photometric trends emerge with minimal scatter, including the continuous redward progression in F125W-F160W with decreasing temperature, and the blueward trend in F105W-F125W with possible hints of a reversal around 350K. Comparisons to the ATMO, Sonora Elf Owl, and Lacy & Burrows atmospheric models highlight systematic discrepancies, in particular F105W-F125W and F105W-F160W colours predicted to be too red. Low-metallicity grids provide the best fits to the global Y-dwarf population, although closer inspection across wavelengths shows that these preferences likely reflect compensating effects in missing or incomplete physics rather than true population-level abundances. While some atmospheric diversity is expected among Y dwarfs, their tight observational sequences and systematic offsets from model predictions reveal that key physical and chemical processes remain inadequately captured in current grids. Our results underscore the importance of high-precision, internally consistent datasets in robustly tracing the Y-dwarf cooling sequence and providing the empirical constraints needed to advance theoretical models at the lowest temperatures.