Very low-mass (VLM) stars and brown dwarfs make up the smallest, least luminous, but one of the most dominant baryonic populations of the Milky Way. They are vital probes of the smallest extremes of the star formation process, and their properties inform us about the boundary conditions and variations in the formation and evolution of all stars. However, despite their ubiquity and importance, samples of VLMs have historically been small due to their intrinsic faintness.
The PI will build a comprehensive, cross-matched catalog of VLMs that were observed in the UKIDSS, WISE, 2MASS and SDSS all-sky surveys. He will measure proper motions for more than 100,000 VLMs, which will be the largest sample of VLM common-proper motion pairs ever assembled. He will also conduct a parallax program at the 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope to measure accurate distances to more than 100 VLMs within 33 parsecs of the Sun. This work is essential to address the previous deficiencies in our cataloging of VLMs and VLM binaries, and it will provide a vital new understanding of how low mass and very low-mass stars form.
The PI will integrate his science mission with diversity efforts by creating the Boston University (BU) Pre-Majors (Pre-MaP) program. His program will directly address the national need for additional STEM majors by increasing the number of underrepresented students in the physical sciences. BU Pre-MaP will expose first-year underrepresented students to research, and it will increase the participation and diversity in astronomy and STEM disciplines.
