@article{a414e57b6a6e4156a5fcefaeacdb2615,
title = "Spitzer identification of the least massive known brown dwarf with a circumstellar disk",
abstract = "Using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have obtained mid-infrared photometry of the least massive known brown dwarf in the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. For this young brown dwarf, OTS 44, we have constructed a spectral energy distribution (SED) from 0.8 to 8 μm by combining the measurements at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm from IRAC with ground-based photometry at I, J, H, and K. The resulting SED for OTS 44 exhibits significant excess emission longward of 3 μm relative to the SED expected from the photosphere of the brown dwarf. We have successfully modeled the source of this excess emission in terms of an irradiated viscous accretion disk with M ≲ 10-10 M⊙ yr-1. With a spectral type of M9.5 and a mass of ∼15MJup, OTS 44 is now the coolest and least massive brown dwarf observed to have a circumstellar disk. These measurements demonstrate that disks exist around brown dwarfs even down to the deuterium-burning mass limit and the approximate upper mass limit of extrasolar planetary companions.",
author = "Luhman, {K. L.} and Paola D'Alessio and Nuria Calvet and Allen, {Lori E.} and Lee Hartmann and Megeath, {S. T.} and Myers, {P. C.} and Fazio, {G. G.}",
note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to Robert Gutermuth for developing the software used in reducing the IRAC images. K. L. L. was supported by grant NAG5-11627 from the NASA Long-Term Space Astrophysics program. P. D. acknowledges grants from CONACyT and PAPIIT/DGAPA, M{\'e}xico. N. C. and L. H. acknowledge grant NAG5-13210. This work is based on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under NASA contract 1407. Support for this work was provided by NASA through contract 1256790 issued by JPL/Caltech. Support for the IRAC instrument was provided by NASA through contract 960541 issued by JPL. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.",
year = "2005",
month = feb,
day = "10",
doi = "10.1086/428613",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "620",
pages = "L51--L54",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal",
issn = "0004-637X",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "1 II",
}