Calculations of the Far-Wing Line Profiles of Sodium and Potassium in the Atmospheres of Substellar-Mass Objects

At the low temperatures achieved in cool brown dwarf and hot giant planet atmospheres, the less refractory neutral alkali metals assume an uncharacteristically prominent role in spectrum formation. In particular, the wings of the Na-D (5890 \AA) and K I (7700 \AA) resonance lines come to define the continuum and dominate the spectrum of T dwarfs from 0.4 to 1.0 \mic. Whereas in standard stellar atmospheres the strengths and shapes of the wings of atomic spectral lines are rarely needed beyond 25 \AA of a line center, in brown dwarfs the far wings of the Na and K resonance lines out to 1000's of \AA detunings are important. Using standard quantum chemical codes and the Unified Franck-Condon model for line profiles in the quasi-static limit, we calculate the interaction potentials and the wing line shapes for the dominant Na and K resonance lines in H$_2$- and helium-rich atmospheres. Our theory has natural absorption profile cutoffs, has no free parameters, and is readily adapted to spectral synthesis calculations for stars, brown dwarfs, and planets with effective temperatures below 2000 Kelvin.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, 7 figures in JPEG format, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

The Theory of Brown Dwarfs and Extrasolar Giant Planets

Straddling the traditional realms of the planets and the stars, objects below the edge of the main sequence have such unique properties, and are being discovered in such quantities, that one can rightly claim that a new field at the interface of planetary science and and astronomy is being born. In this review, we explore the essential elements of the theory of brown dwarfs and giant planets, as well as of the new spectroscopic classes L and T. To this end, we describe their evolution, spectra, atmospheric compositions, chemistry, physics, and nuclear phases and explain the basic systematics of substellar-mass objects across three orders of magnitude in both mass and age and a factor of 30 in effective temperature. Moreover, we discuss the distinctive features of those extrasolar giant planets that are irradiated by a central primary, in particular their reflection spectra, albedos, and transits. Aspects of the latest theory of Jupiter and Saturn are also presented. Throughout, we highlight the effects of condensates, clouds, molecular abundances, and molecular/atomic opacities in brown dwarf and giant planet atmospheres and summarize the resulting spectral diagnostics. Where possible, the theory is put in its current observational context.Comment: 67 pages (including 36 figures), RMP RevTeX LaTeX, accepted for publication in the Reviews of Modern Physics. 30 figures are color. Most of the figures are in GIF format to reduce the overall size. The full version with figures can also be found at: http://jupiter.as.arizona.edu/~burrows/papers/rm