Spitzer Identification of the Least Massive Known Brown Dwarf with a Circumstellar Disk

Abstract

Using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have obtained mid-infrared photometry of the least massive known brown dwarf in the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. For this young brown dwarf, OTS 44, we have constructed a spectral energy distribution (SED) from 0.8 to 8 μm by combining the measurements at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm from IRAC with ground-based photometry at I, J, H, and K. The resulting SED for OTS 44 exhibits significant excess emission longward of 3 μm relative to the SED expected from the photosphere of the brown dwarf. We have successfully modeled the source of this excess emission in terms of an irradiated viscous accretion disk with M