Correlated spectral variability in brown dwarfs

Models of brown dwarf atmospheres suggest they exhibit complex physical behaviour. Observations have shown that they are indeed dynamic, displaying small photometric variations over time-scales of hours. Here, I report results of infrared (0.95–1.64 μm) spectrophotometric monitoring of four field L and T dwarfs spanning time-scales of 0.1–5.5 h, the goal being to learn more about the physical nature of this variability. Spectra are analysed differentially with respect to a simultaneously observed reference source in order to remove Earth-atmospheric variations. The variability amplitude detected is typically 2–10 per cent, depending on the source and wavelength. I analyse the data for correlated variations between spectral indices. This approach is more robust than single band or  χ²  analyses, because it does not assume an amplitude for the (often uncertain) noise level (although the significance test still assumes a shape for the noise power spectrum). Three of the four targets show significant evidence for correlated variability. Some of this can be associated with specific features including Fe, FeH, VO and K  i , and there is good evidence for intrinsic variability in H₂O and possibly also CH₄. Yet some of this variability covers a broader spectral range which would be consistent with dust opacity variations. The underlying common cause is plausibly localized temperature or composition fluctuations caused by convection. Looking at the high signal-to-noise ratio stacked spectra, we see many previously identified spectral features of L and T dwarfs, such as K  i , Na  i , FeH, H₂O and CH₄. In particular, we may have detected methane absorption at 1.3–1.4 μm in the L5 dwarf SDSS 0539?0059.