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Brown dwarf characterization with EChO

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Abstract

The Exoplanet Characterization Observatory (EChO) is a space mission concept dedicated to the analysis of exoplanet atmospheres using low-resolution spectroscopy in the infrared region between 0.55 and 11 μm. A fraction of its time will be used for ancillary science. We discuss here the prospect of a small survey of L and T-type brown dwarfs. These cold objects show properties comparable to those of giant planets, with the advantage of being brighter and not perturbed by host stars, therefore, they are very useful to understand processes and properties of planet atmospheres. At the same time, brown dwarfs still pose some challenges to stellar models that must include the formation of clouds and sedimentation processes that occur at the low temperatures of these objects. Hence, our aim is to build up an homogeneous catalogue of spectra of brown dwarfs as well as to characterize the spectral variability observed on some of them, which is attributed to the presence of clouds in their atmospheres. We demonstrate that EChO could provide the spectra of brown dwarfs between 1 and 11 μm with enough accuracy to reach these goals. We also present the current number of known brown dwarfs and we suggest a list of possible targets, although future surveys will probably provide better targets at the time of EChO launch if the mission is selected.

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  1. http://dwarfarchives.org

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to F. Allard for advice on the use of Phoenix stellar atmosphere models and to A. Burgasser and M. C. Cushing for kindly providing the Jupiter IRTF and CIRS data. We also thank the referee for a thorough and very helpful review of the paper. This research has benefitted from the M, L, T, and Y dwarf compendium housed at DwarfArchives.org. We are grateful to CNES for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LESIA-Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC University Paris 06, University Paris-Diderot, 5 Pl. Jules Janssen, 92195, Meudon Cedex, France

    J. C. Morales, V. Coudé du Foresto & P. Drossart

  2. Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris UMR7095 UPMC CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014, Paris, France

    J.-P. Beaulieu

  3. University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    G. Tinetti

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  1. J. C. Morales
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  2. J.-P. Beaulieu
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  3. V. Coudé du Foresto
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  4. P. Drossart
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  5. G. Tinetti
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Correspondence to J. C. Morales.

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Morales, J.C., Beaulieu, JP., Coudé du Foresto, V. et al. Brown dwarf characterization with EChO . Exp Astron 40, 733–751 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-014-9434-x

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