ESO - E-ELT Design Reference Mission

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

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

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.

ESO — Reaching New Heights in Astronomy

THE E-ELT DESIGN REFERENCE MISSION - SCIENCE CASE S5

Characterizing the lowest mass freely floating objects in star forming regions

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

Giant-planet-mass objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud

E-ELT Science

What's New?

Science Case

Project Science Team

Phase B (2006 – 2011)