2018arXiv (Cornell University)Open access

A review on substellar objects beyond the deuterium burning mass limit:\n planets, brown dwarfs or what?

J. A. Caballero

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Abstract

"Free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar objects" are isolated\nbodies of a few Jupiter masses found in very young open clusters and\nassociations, nearby young moving groups and in the immediate vicinity of the\nSun. They are neither brown dwarfs nor planets. I look over their nomenclature,\nhistory of discovery, sites of detection, formation mechanisms and future\ndirections of research. Most free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar\nobjects share the same formation mechanism as low-mass stars and brown dwarfs,\nbut there are still a few caveats, such as the value of the opacity mass limit,\nthe minimum mass at which an isolated body can form via turbulent fragmentation\nfrom a cloud. The least massive free-floating substellar objects found to date\nhave masses of about 0.004 Msol, but current and future surveys should aim at\nbreaking this record. For that, we may need LSST, Euclid and WFIRST.\n

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"Free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar objects" are isolated\nbodies of a few Jupiter masses found in very young open clusters and\nassociations, nearby young moving groups and in the immediate vicinity of the\nSun. They are neither brown dwarfs nor planets. I look over their nomenclature,\nhistory of discovery, sites of detection, formation mechanisms and future\ndirections of research. Most free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar\nobjects share the same formation mechanism as low-mass stars and brown dwarfs,\nbut there are still a few caveats, such as the value of the opacity mass limit,\nthe minimum mass at which an isolated body can form via turbulent fragmentation\nfrom a cloud. The least massive free-floating substellar objects found to date\nhave masses of about 0.004 Msol, but current and future surveys should aim at\nbreaking this record. For that, we may need LSST, Euclid and WFIRST.\n

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Available abstract

"Free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar objects" are isolated\nbodies of a few Jupiter masses found in very young open clusters and\nassociations, nearby young moving groups and in the immediate vicinity of the\nSun. They are neither brown dwarfs nor planets. I look over their nomenclature,\nhistory of discovery, sites of detection, formation mechanisms and future\ndirections of research. Most free-floating, non-deuterium-burning, substellar\nobjects share the same formation mechanism as low-mass stars and brown dwarfs,\nbut there are still a few caveats, such as the value of the opacity mass limit,\nthe minimum mass at which an isolated body can form via turbulent fragmentation\nfrom a cloud. The least massive free-floating substellar objects found to date\nhave masses of about 0.004 Msol, but current and future surveys should aim at\nbreaking this record. For that, we may need LSST, Euclid and WFIRST.\n

Key concepts: Brown dwarf, Planet, Physics, Planetary mass, Jupiter (rocket family), Jupiter mass, Astrophysics, Astronomy

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