THE E-ELT DESIGN REFERENCE MISSION - SCIENCE CASE S5

    Title

    Characterizing the lowest mass freely floating objects in star forming regions

    PI

    F. Comeron

    Abstract

    This proposal aims at the spectroscopic characterization of the lowest mass freely-floating objects selected in wide-area imaging surveys of young star forming regions, carried out with either survey telescopes or large format infrared imagers at 8-m telescopes. It is likely that the physical properties of such objects, as little massive as one or a few Jupiters, can be derived only from the comparison of spectra covering diagnostic atomic and molecular lines to the next generation of ultracool atmospheres. Therefore, the determination of the shape of the lowest-mass end of the substellar initial mass function may be only possible by using relatively high signal-to-noise spectroscopy that can only be provided by ELTs. Besides, spectroscopic monitoring will yield information on the meteorology of these objects, which are expected to display complex weather patterns. The goal of this project is to obtain near-simultaneous spectroscopy of the lowest-mass objects in star forming regions, in the wavelength interval ranging from the red (0.6 μm) spectral region dominated by the opacity in alkali lines, to the near-infrared (4 μm) dominated by molecular opacities (H2, H2O, CH4, NH3.)

    Full proposal

    v2

    Report

    Section 8 of the DRM report

    Related presentations

    Overview, F. Comeron at a joint ESA-CONSTELLATION workshop on the formation of brown dwarfs, 09-11 Sep 2009
    Science case, F. Comeron at SWG DRM workshop, 29-30 May 2007

    Overview (#3 in a series of popular science level 'pep talks'), J. Liske at TPO meeting, 31 Jan 2008


     


    Title

    The Centers of Massive Dense Young Clusters: deep ELT infrared imaging and 3D spectroscopy

    PI

    H. Zinnecker

    Abstract

    We propose to use the 42m ELT at 2-5 μm (broad band and narrow-band filters) to probe the the number density, brigthness, and proper motions of deeply embedded massive stars and protostars just formed in dense infrared dark Galactic protocluster clouds (ultracompact HII regions, hot cores, outflow sources), penetrating as much as 200 mag of visual extinction. The luminosity and mass function of lower-mass stars in the less obscured regions of the Galactic Center young dense clusters (Arches, Quintuplet, SgrA OB cluster) will also be investigated (AV=30 mag), in an attempt to measure IMF variations or even a low-mass cut-off.

    Full proposal

    v1

    Report

    Section 9 of the DRM report

    Related presentations

    Science case, H. Zinnecker at SWG DRM workshop, 29-30 May 2007

    Overview (#3 in a series of popular science level 'pep talks'), J. Liske at TPO meeting, 31 Jan 2008


     


    Title

    Giant-planet-mass objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud

    PI

    F. Comeron

    Abstract

    The goal of the proposal is to probe the complete substellar mass regime of a young star forming region in the LMC down to 5 MJup. This mass may be below the opacity limit setting the minimum mass of objects formed by fragmentation at the metallicity of the LMC. Therefore, the observations proposed here have the potential of revealing the opacity limit in a low-metallicity environment such as that of the early Milky Way, thus providing a data point that cannot be obtained from observations in our own Galaxy. The determination of the lowest-mass IMF, and eventually of the location of the opacity limit at low metallicity, will be helpful to constrain the volume density of evolved giant-planet-mass objects lurking in our own galactic disk, which have faded into invisibility since a long time ago. The challenge of these observations is set by the very small size of a typical star forming region, the crowdedness, and the coexistence of the main targets with much brighter stars that can be located a fraction of an arcsecond away.

    Full proposal

    v2

    Report

    Section 10 of the DRM report

    Data

    Various data accompanying the report, including examples of simulations.

    Related presentations

    Overview, F. Comeron at a joint ESA-CONSTELLATION workshop on the formation of brown dwarfs, 09-11 Sep 2009
    DRM update, A. Calamida at SWG meeting, 15 Apr 2009
    DRM update, A. Calamida at SWG meeting, 07 Oct 2008