The brown dwarf desert as a consequence of orbital migration

We show that the dearth of brown dwarfs in short-period orbits around Solar-mass stars – the brown dwarf desert – can be understood as a consequence of inward migration within an evolving protoplanetary disc. Brown dwarf secondaries forming at the same time as the primary star have masses which are comparable to the initial mass of the protoplanetary disc. Subsequent disc evolution leads to inward migration, and destruction of the brown dwarf, via merger with the star. This is in contrast with massive planets, which avoid this fate by forming at a later epoch when the disc is close to being dispersed. Within this model, a brown dwarf desert arises because the mass at the hydrogen-burning limit is coincidentally comparable to the initial disc mass for a Solar mass star. Brown dwarfs should be found in close binaries around very low mass stars, around other brown dwarfs, and around Solar-type stars during the earliest phases of star formation.