We have conducted a 4030-square-deg near-infrared proper motion survey using
multi-epoch data from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). We find 2778
proper motion candidates, 647 of which are not listed in SIMBAD. After
comparison to DSS images, we find that 107 of our proper motion candidates lack
counterparts at B-, R-, and I-bands and are thus 2MASS-only detections. We
present results of spectroscopic follow-up of 188 targets that include the
infrared-only sources along with selected optical-counterpart sources with
faint reduced proper motions or interesting colors. We also establish a set of
near-infrared spectroscopic standards with which to anchor near-infrared
classifications for our objects. Among the discoveries are six young field
brown dwarfs, five "red L" dwarfs, three L-type subdwarfs, twelve M-type
subdwarfs, eight "blue L" dwarfs, and several T dwarfs. We further refine the
definitions of these exotic classes to aid future identification of similar
objects. We examine their kinematics and find that both the "blue L" and "red
L" dwarfs appear to be drawn from a relatively old population. This survey
provides a glimpse of the kinds of research that will be possible through
time-domain infrared projects such as the UKIDSS Large Area Survey, various
VISTA surveys, and WISE, and also through z- or y-band enabled, multi-epoch
surveys such as Pan-STARRS and LSST.Comment: To appear in the September 2010 issue of The Astrophysical Journal,
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