Substellar Sources Spinning up Magnetic Mysteries
Brown dwarfs occupy the mass range between planets and stars, with boundaries generally set at deuterium fusion (~13 M_J) and hydrogen fusion (~80 M_J). This distinction is somewhat misleading as no hard transition in physical properties occurs at these masses. Instead, planetary mechanisms such as formation process and atmospheric chemistry gradually transition across this gap to more resemble stellar ones. The substellar regime therefore offers an exciting testbed where observations can push stellar and planetary models alike to their limits.
I am particularly interested in a complete picture of the angular momentum evolution of brown dwarfs, both over their lifetimes and as a population. My work broadly aims to understand the connection between rotation and magnetism, as they have a direct physical relationship but can be independently observed. Currently there are large observational gaps in mass, age, and wavelength space that leave us with corresponding gaps in our understanding of brown dwarf spin. I have three ongoing projects using high-resolution (R~45,000) NIR spectroscopy to directly address these blind spots.