The field brown dwarf LP 944-20 and the Castor moving group

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 400, Number 1, March II 2003


Page(s)		297 - 302
Section		Stellar atmospheres
DOI		http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20030006

A&A 400, 297-302 (2003)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20030006

The field brown dwarf LP 944-20 and the Castor moving group

I. Ribas

Departament d'Astronomia i Meteorologia, Av. Diagonal, 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
(Received 8 October 2002 / Accepted 23 December 2002)

Abstract
A reliable age estimation for the field brown dwarf LP 944-20 is accomplished through the analysis of its kinematic properties. The space velocities of this star strongly suggest its membership in the so-called Castor moving group. LP 944-20 can be sensibly assumed to have the group's age, which is estimated to be ~320 Myr, and metal content, which is found to be roughly solar. With these new constrains and the available photometry and lithium abundance, current brown dwarf models are put to a test. Using the IR magnitudes and the lithium diagnostics, the models are able to provide a reasonable description of the brown dwarf's properties (to within a few sigma) but yield an age which is roughly 50% larger than our estimate. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.

Key words: stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs -- stars: fundamental parameters -- stars: kinematics -- stars: individual: LP 944-20

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