Magazzu, Antonio

Contact Email: magazzu@tng.iac.es
Institute: Centro Galileo Galilei, La Palma
First Coauthor: Eduardo L. Martin
Institute: Institute of Astronomy, University of Hawaii
Second Coauthor: Catherine Dougados
Institute: CFHT Corporation
Research URL:http://www.ct.astro.it/ama/antonio.html
Subject Area: Brown Dwarfs & Extrasolar Planets
Waveband: Optical
Technique: Spectroscopy
Presentation:
Title: First results of a search for brown dwarfs in Taurus
Abstract: In this paper we present the first results of a new effort to search for brown dwarfs in Taurus star formation region. At CFHT we obtained deep images over a total area of 3.59 square degrees, a 5 times larger area than previous work, using R, I, z, and H$\alpha$bands. From a subset of this survey (2.29 square degreees, including only R and I photometry) we selected 30 very low-mass (VLM) candidate members. Optical spectroscopy with the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma showed very late-M spectral types for four candidates, which are confirmed as VLM objects with high probability of membership in Taurus. They are sufficiently cool and faint to be considered as brown dwarfs. One of them presents strong evidence for disk accretion.