Convective mixing and dust clouds in the atmospheres of brown dwarfs

Observed spectra of brown dwarfs demonstrate that their atmospheres are influenced by dust. To investigate the mechanism that controls the formation and gravitational settling of dust grains as well as the mixing of fresh condensable material into the atmosphere, we performed 2D radiation-hydrodynam...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Freytag, Bernd, Allard, France, Ludwig, Hans-Gunter, Homeier, Derek, Steffen, Matthias, Sharp, Christopher
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Observed spectra of brown dwarfs demonstrate that their atmospheres are influenced by dust. To investigate the mechanism that controls the formation and gravitational settling of dust grains as well as the mixing of fresh condensable material into the atmosphere, we performed 2D radiation-hydrodynamics simulations with CO5BOLD. The models comprise the upper part of the convection zone and the atmosphere with the dust cloud layers. We find that direct convective overshoot does not play a major role. Instead, the mixing in the clouds is controlled by gravity waves.
ISSN:0094-243X
DOI:10.1063/1.3099155