An international team led by LMU astrophysicist Dr. Basmah Riaz from the University Observatory Munich has actually now achieved just that: The scientists conducted observations of the very young brown dwarf, Ser-emb 16, utilizing the highly sophisticated ALMA observatory in Chile and recently published their outcomes in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.ALMA observations of the spiral (left) and the tail (right) towards the incredibly young brown dwarf Ser-emb 16. “These observations show, for the first time, the impact of the external environment, which results in uneven mass accretion via feeding filaments on to a brown dwarf in the making,” says the astronomer.Collapsing Clumps or Magnetic Cores?The spiral structures and streamers supply crucial clues about how brown dwarfs kind. If this model is right, it indicates a vibrant brown dwarf development process, comparable to Sun-like stars, where disorderly interactions in a star-forming environment are typical from an early age.In another scenario, the simulations showed that the observed structures correspond to the big (pseudo)- disk around an extremely young brown dwarf, where the (pseudo)- disk has actually been twisted by the rotation of the brown dwarf core in the existence of a strong magnetic field.
A worldwide team led by LMU astrophysicist Dr. Basmah Riaz from the University Observatory Munich has now accomplished just that: The researchers conducted observations of the very young brown dwarf, Ser-emb 16, utilizing the extremely advanced ALMA observatory in Chile and recently released their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.ALMA observations of the spiral (left) and the tail (right) towards the incredibly young brown dwarf Ser-emb 16. “These observations show, for the first time, the impact of the external environment, which results in asymmetric mass accretion through feeding filaments on to a brown dwarf in the making,” says the astronomer.Collapsing Clumps or Magnetic Cores?The spiral structures and streamers supply essential hints about how brown overshadows form. If this model is proper, it implies a vibrant brown dwarf development process, similar to Sun-like stars, where chaotic interactions in a star-forming environment are common from an early age.In another scenario, the simulations revealed that the observed structures correspond to the large (pseudo)- disk around a very young brown dwarf, where the (pseudo)- disk has been twisted by the rotation of the brown dwarf core in the presence of a strong magnetic field. “Consequently, Ser-emb 16 makes up an unique case of a brown dwarf captured in the process of forming in a star-like fashion,” explains Professor Masahiro Machida from Kyushu University in Japan, likewise co-author of the study.Reference: “Observations of spiral and banner on a candidate proto-brown dwarf” by B Riaz, D Stamatellos and M N Machida, 11 March 2024, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.DOI: 10.1093/ mnras/stae724.
