2001/03/24 by Andreas Schweitzer, A. Schweitzer, John E. Gizis +5 · 3 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/321486
AASTeX5.0. 26 pages, including all figures, Accepted for ApJ
arxiv created 2001/03/24 · openalex publication_date 2001/07/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We present analyses of high- and medium-resolution spectra of early L dwarfs. We have used our latest set of model atmospheres to reproduce and analyze the observed features. We can model the optical flux and atomic line profiles with the best accuracy to date. The models used to reproduce the observations include dust condensation and dust opacities. Compared with previous studies using older models, we find that our dust treatment is much improved. The derived parameters for the objects are well in the expected range for old, very low mass objects. This is also supported by the absence of Li in most of the objects. For the objects showing Li, we can be almost certain they are brown dwarfs. However, a spectral analysis in general, and this one in particular, can only very roughly determine mass and age.