Cool Stars 14 - Submitted Abstract # 220
This version created on 05 October 2006

Spitzer Observations of Substellar Companions


Sonali J. Shukla, Vanderbilt University/SSC
Patrick Lowrance, SSC/Caltech
J. Davy Kirkpatrick, IPAC

Since the discovery of the first brown dwarf, hundreds of such
substellar objects have been identified.  Although their existence has
been confirmed, the determination of many fundamental properties of
brown dwarfs is still an ongoing process.  Luminosity and mass are two
parameters that are difficult to determine without a known distance
and age, yet are critical to our fundamental understanding of
substellar evolution.  We present a study of a small sample of known
brown dwarf companions of main sequence stars using the Spitzer Space
Telescope.  The brown dwarfs in our study range from early to late L
with a wide age range and are companions of primary stars having known
distances and ages.  Using the measured fluxes from 2MASS to
mid-infrared wavelengths (1 - 24 microns) along with the known
quantities of the primary stars (age and distance), we will present
SEDs and bolometric luminosities that can be compared to theoretical
model predictions.

----------------------------------