Abstract
Isolated planetary-mass objects (IPMOs) have masses close to or below the deuterium-burning mass limit (similar to 15 M-Jup)-at the bottom of the stellar initial mass function. We present an exploratory survey for disks in this mass regime, based on a dedicated observing campaign with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Our targets include the full sample of spectroscopically confirmed IPMOs in the sigma Orionis cluster, a total of 18 sources. In the mass range, we identify four objects with > 13 sigma color excess at a wavelength of 8.0 mu m, interpreted as emission 8-20 M-Jup from dusty disks. We thus establish that a substantial fraction of IPMOs harbor disks with lifetimes of at least 2 4 Myr (the likely age of the cluster), indicating an origin from core collapse and fragmentation processes. The disk frequency in the IPMO sample is 29 +/-(16)(13)% at 8.0 mu m, very similar to what has been found for stars and brown dwarfs (similar to 30%). The object S Ori 70, a candidate 3 M-Jup object in this cluster, shows IRAC colors in excess of the typical values for field T dwarfs (on a 2 sigma level), possibly due to disk emission or low gravity. This is a new indication for youth and thus an extremely low mass for S Ori 70.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | L49-L52 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Astrophysical Journal Letters |
Volume | 672 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2008 |
Keywords
- Circumstellar matter
- Planetary systems
- Planetary systems : protoplanetary disks
- Stars : formation
- Stars : low-mass
- Brown dwarfs
- Young brown dwarfs
- Sigma-orionis cluster
- Objects
- Photometry
- spectroscopy
- Population