Brown Dwarfs in the Alpha Persei Cluster

Stauffer, John R.; Barrado y Navascués, David; Bouvier, Jerome; Lodieu, Nicholas; McCaughrean, Mark
Referencia bibliográfica

Brown Dwarfs, Proceedings of IAU Symposium #211, held 20-24 May 2002 at University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii. Edited by Eduardo Martín. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2003, p. 163

Fecha de publicación:
6
2003
Número de autores
5
Número de autores del IAC
0
Número de citas
5
Número de citas referidas
5
Descripción
We have obtained a new, deep, wide-field optical imaging survey of the young Alpha Persei cluster which reveals a well-populated lower main sequence extending into the substellar mass regime. Subsequent infrared photometry confirms that most of the candidate brown dwarfs are indeed likely to be cluster members, with a predicted minimum mass of order 0.035 solar masses. We have combined the new candidate list with previous member catalogs to derive an IMF for Alpha Per; the slope of the IMF at the low mass end is α ˜ 0.6. The Alpha Per IMF slope is thus very similar to that found in the Pleiades.