Spitzer follow-up of Y brown dwarfs

DOI

We present Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5{mu}m follow-up of 170 candidate extremely cool brown dwarfs newly discovered via the combination of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and NEOWISE imaging at 3-5{mu}m. CatWISE, a joint analysis of archival WISE and NEOWISE data, has improved upon the motion measurements of AllWISE by leveraging a >10x time baseline enhancement, from 0.5yr (AllWISE) to 6.5yr (CatWISE). As a result, CatWISE motion selection has yielded a large sample of previously unrecognized brown dwarf candidates, many of which have archival detections exclusively in the WISE 4.6{mu}m (W2) channel, suggesting that they could be both exceptionally cold and nearby. Where these objects go undetected in WISE W1 (3.4{mu}m), Spitzer can provide critically informative detections at 3.6{mu}m. Of our motion-confirmed discoveries, 17 have a best-fit Spitzer [3.6]-[4.5] color most consistent with spectral type Y. It is likely that CWISEP J144606.62-231717.8 ({mu}~1.3yr^-1^) is the reddest, and therefore potentially coldest, member of our sample with a very uncertain [3.6]-[4.5] color of 3.71+/-0.44mag. We also highlight our highest proper-motion discovery, WISEA J153429.75-104303.3, with {mu}~2.7yr^-1^. Given that the prior list of confirmed and presumed Y dwarfs consists of just 27 objects, the Spitzer follow-up presented in this work has substantially expanded the sample of identified Y dwarfs. Our new discoveries thus represent significant progress toward understanding the bottom of the substellar mass function, investigating the diversity of the Y dwarf population, and selecting optimal brown dwarf targets for James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopy.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/889/74/bdcand (WISE and Spitzer photometry (Table 1) and linear motion fitting results (Table 7))

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/889/74/table3 (WISE W2 positions used in joint WISE+Spitzer linear motion fits)

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/889/74/table4 (Recalibrated Spitzer ch2 positions)

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.18890074
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/889/74
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/889/74
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/889/74
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/889/74
Provenance
Creator Meisner A.M.; Caselden D.; Kirkpatrick J.D.; Marocco F.; Gelino C.R.,Cushing M.C.; Eisenhardt P.R.M.; Wright E.L.; Faherty J.K.; Koontz R.,Marchese E.J.; Khalil M.; Fowler J.W.; Schlafly E.F.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2021
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics; Stellar Astronomy