The Origin of Brown Dwarfs
Dr. Kevin Luhman
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Abstract
I present new observational constraints on the formation process of
brown dwarfs, which include measurements of their initial mass
function,
binarity, circumstellar disks, accretion, and spatial distributions
in
star-forming regions. These observed properties of brown dwarfs are
used
to test the predictions of various theories for their formation, such
as the embryo ejection scenario.