ES-02-0015

A New Grid of Y Dwarf Atmosphere Models with Water Clouds and Nonequilibrium Chemistry

Brianna Irene Lacy

Y dwarfs are the coolest spectral class of brown dwarf, with effective temperatures less than 500 K and the coolest detection as low as ~250 K. They make up the low-mass tail of the star formation process, and are a valuable analogue to the atmospheres of giant gaseous exoplanets in a temperature range that is difficult to observe. Understanding Y dwarf atmospheric compositions and processes will thus deepen our understanding of planet and star formation and provide a stepping stone towards characterizing cool exoplanets. In this poster, we present a new suite of 1-d radiative-convective equilibrium models to aid in the characterization Y dwarf atmospheres and spectra. We compute clear, cloudy, equilibrium-chemistry and nonequilibrium-chemistry models, providing a comprehensive suite of models in support of the impending JWST era of panchromatic Y dwarf characterization. Comparing these models against current observations from HST and ground-based telescopes, as well as preliminary JWST data, we find that nonequilibrium CH4-CO and NH3-N2 chemistry and the presence of water clouds can bring models and observations into better, though still not complete, agreement.