Expanding the Y Dwarf Census with Spitzer

Expanding the Y Dwarf Census with Spitzer Follow-up of the Coldest CatWISE Solar Neighborhood Discoveries

We present Spitzer 3.6μm and 4.5μm follow-up of 170 candidate extremely cool brown dwarfs newly discovered via the combination of WISE and NEOWISE imaging at 3−5μm. CatWISE, a joint analysis of archival WISE and NEOWISE data, has improved upon the motion measurements of AllWISE by leveraging a >10× time baseline enhancement, from 0.5 years (AllWISE) to 6.5 years (CatWISE). As a result, CatWISE motion selection has yielded a large sample of previously unrecognized brown dwarf candidates, many of which have archival detections exclusively in the WISE 4.6μm (W2) channel, suggesting that they could be both exceptionally cold and nearby. Where these objects go undetected in WISE W1 (3.4μm), Spitzer can provide critically informative detections at 3.6μm. Of our motion-confirmed discoveries, seventeen have a best-fit Spitzer [3.6]−[4.5] color most consistent with spectral type Y. CWISEP J144606.62−231717.8 (μ≈1.3″/yr) is likely the reddest, and therefore potentially coldest, member of our sample with a very uncertain [3.6]−[4.5] color of 3.71 ± 0.44 magnitudes. We also highlight our highest proper motion discovery, WISEA J153429.75−104303.3, with μ≈2.7″/yr. Given that the prior list of confirmed and presumed Y dwarfs consists of just 27 objects, the Spitzer follow-up presented in this work has substantially expanded the sample of identified Y dwarfs. Our new discoveries thus represent significant progress toward understanding the bottom of the substellar mass function, investigating the diversity of the Y dwarf population, and selecting optimal brown dwarf targets for JWST spectroscopy.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1911.12372