LARGE-AMPLITUDE VARIATIONS OF AN L/T TRANSITION BROWN DWARF: MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF PATCHY, HIGH-CONTRAST CLOUD FEATURES
- Department of Astronomy, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Room 101, Toronto M5S 3H4 (Canada)
- Departement de Physique and Observatoire du Mont Megantic, Universite de Montreal, Montreal (Canada)
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
We present multiple-epoch photometric monitoring in the J, H, and K{sub s} bands of the T1.5 dwarf 2MASS J21392676+0220226 (2M2139), revealing persistent, periodic (P = 7.721 {+-} 0.005 hr) variability with a peak-to-peak amplitude as high as 26% in the J band. The light curve shape varies on a timescale of days, suggesting that evolving atmospheric cloud features are responsible. Using interpolations between model atmospheres with differing cloud thicknesses to represent a heterogeneous surface, we find that the multi-wavelength variations and the near-infrared spectrum of 2M2139 can be reproduced by either (1) cool, thick cloud features sitting above a thinner cloud layer, or (2) warm regions of low condensate opacity in an otherwise cloudy atmosphere, possibly indicating the presence of holes or breaks in the cloud layer. We find that temperature contrasts between thick and thin cloud patches must be greater than 175 K and as high as 425 K. We also consider whether the observed variability could arise from an interacting binary system, but this scenario is ruled out. 2M2139 joins the T2.5 dwarf SIMP0136 discovered by Artigau and coworkers as the second L/T transition brown dwarf to display large-amplitude variability on rotational timescales, suggesting that the fragmentation of dust clouds at the L/T transition may contribute to the abrupt decline in condensate opacity and J-band brightening observed to occur over this regime.
- OSTI ID:
- 22034522
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 750, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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