2023/10/14 by G. Robbins, Robbins, Grady, Aaron Meisner +35 · 2 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Solid-state spectroscopy and crystallography #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.09524
openalex publication_date 2023/10/14 · openalex created_date 2023/10/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Y dwarfs, the coolest known spectral class of brown dwarfs, overlap in mass and temperature with giant exoplanets, providing unique laboratories for studying low-temperature atmospheres. However, only a fraction of Y dwarf candidates have been spectroscopically confirmed. We present Keck/NIRES near-infrared spectroscopy of the nearby (d ≈ 6-8 pc) brown dwarf CWISE J105512.11+544328.3. Although its near-infrared spectrum aligns best with the Y0 standard in the J-band, no standard matches well across the full YJHK wavelength range. The CWISE J105512.11+544328.3 NH3-H = 0.427 ± 0.0012 and CH4-J = 0.0385 ± 0.0007 absorption indices and absolute Spitzer [4.5] magnitude of 15.18 ± 0.22 are also indicative of an early Y dwarf rather than a late T dwarf. CWISE J105512.11+544328.3 additionally exhibits the bluest Spitzer [3.6]-[4.5] color among all spectroscopically confirmed Y dwarfs. Despite this anomalously blue Spitzer color given its low luminosity, CWISE J105512.11+544328.3 does not show other clear kinematic or spectral indications of low metallicity. Atmospheric model comparisons yield a log(g) ≤ 4.5 and T\rm eff ≈ 500 ± 150 K for this source. We classify CWISE J105512.11+544328.3 as a Y0 (pec) dwarf, adding to the remarkable diversity of the Y-type population. JWST spectroscopy would be crucial to understanding the origin of this Y dwarf's unusual preference for low-gravity models and blue 3-5 μm color.