Looking at peculiarities in the spectra of known binary brown dwarfs. Trying to understand the large number of L/T transition binaries, and why the spectra of these objects change so quickly over a constant temperature range. We want to determine binary statistics with spectral type, and how many of the L/T objects are truly single objects. We want to understand which spectral features vary the most between a single brown dwarf and an unresolved binary system, so we can use these spectral features as a way to identify binaries from existing spectra. Eventually we will use high resolution photometry and psf fitting to identify marginally resolved and unresolved binaries.

Skills and Experience Required

Knowledge of IRAF or IDL.
Ability to write computational programs.

Contact Details

If you have questions or are interested in pursuing this research project, contact Denise Stephens for more information.