Discovery of a new Y dwarf: WISE J030449.03-270508.3

We present a new Y dwarf, WISE J030449.03-270508.3, confirmed from a candidate sample designed to pick out low temperature objects from the WISE database. The new object is typed Y0pec following a visual comparison with spectral standards, and lies at a likely distance of 10-17 pc. Its tangential velocity suggests thin disk membership, but it shows some spectral characteristics that suggest it may be metal-poor and/or older than previously identified Y0 dwarfs. Based on trends seen for warmer late type T dwarfs, the Y-band flux peak morphology is indicative of sub-solar metallicity, and the enhanced red wing of the J-band flux peak offers evidence for high gravity and/or low metallicity (with associated model trends suggesting an age closer to ~10 Gyr and mass in the range 0.02-0.03 Mo). This object may thus be extending the population parameter-space of the known Y0 dwarfs.

Discovery of the benchmark metal poor T8 dwarf BD+01 2920B

We have searched the WISE first data release for widely separated (<10,000AU) late T dwarf companions to Hipparcos and Gliese stars. We have discovered a new binary system containing a K-band suppressed T8p dwarf WISEP J1423+0116 and the mildly metal poor ([Fe/H]=-0.38+-0.06) primary BD+01 2920 (Hip 70319), a G1 dwarf at a distance of 17.2pc. This new benchmark has Teff=680+-55K and a mass of 20-50 Mjup. Its spectral properties are well modelled except for known discrepancies in the Y and K bands. Based on the well determined metallicity of its companion, the properties of BD+01 2920B imply that the currently known T dwarfs are dominated by young low-mass objects. We also present an accurate proper motion for the T8.5 dwarf WISEP J075003.84+272544.8.

Fifteen new T dwarfs discovered in the UKIDSS Large Area Survey

We present the discovery of fifteen new T2.5-T7.5 dwarfs (with estimated distances between ~24-93pc, identified in the first three main data releases of the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey. This brings the total number of T dwarfs discovered in the Large Area Survey (to date) to 28. These discoveries are confirmed by near infrared spectroscopy, from which we derive spectral types on the unified scheme of Burgasser et al. (2006). Seven of the new T dwarfs have spectral types of T2.5-T4.5, five have spectral types of T5-T5.5, one is a T6.5p, and two are T7-7.5. We assess spectral morphology and colours to identify T dwarfs in our sample that may have non-typical physical properties (by comparison to solar neighbourhood populations). The colours of the full sample of LAS T dwarfs show a possible trend to bluer Y-J with decreasing effective temperature beyond T8. By accounting for the main sources of incompleteness (selection, follow-up and spatial) as well as the effects of unresolved binarity and Malmquist bias, we estimate that there are 17+-4 >=T4 dwarfs in the J<=19 volume of the LAS second data release. Comparing this to theoretical predictions is most consistent with a sub-stellar mass function exponent alpha between -1.0 and 0. This is consistent with the latest 2MASS/SDSS constraint (which is based on lower number statistics), and is significantly lower than the alpha~1.0 suggested by L dwarf field populations, possibly a result of the lower mass range probed by the T dwarf class.