Bibcode
Bihain, G.; Rebolo, R.; Béjar, V. J. S.; Caballero, J. A.; Bailer-Jones, C. A. L.; Mundt, R.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol.326, Issue 10, p.1057-1058
Advertised on:
12
2005
Citations
1
Refereed citations
1
Description
We present results of an optical and near-infrared (IR) 1.8
deg2 survey in the Pleiades open cluster to search for
substellar objects. From optical I-band images from the CFHT and J-band
images from the 3.5 m CAHA Telescope, we identify 18 faint and very red
L brown dwarf candidates, with I> 20.9 and I-J> 3.2. The follow-up
observations of nine objects in the H- and K_{ s}-bands confirm that
eight belong to the IR sequence of the cluster and the proper motion
measurements of seven candidates confirm that they are Pleiades members.
A preliminary estimation of the substellar mass spectrum dN/dM in the
form of a power law M-alpha provides
alpha=+0.57±0.14. We extrapolate this function to estimate the
number of very low-mass brown dwarfs and planetary mass objects that
could be present in the cluster down to 1 M_{ Jup}. Sensitive searches
combining far red and near infrared observations may unveal these
objects in a near future.