Maximum Reduced Proper Motion Method: Detection of New Nearby Ultracool Dwarfs

Abstract

In this paper, we describe how to use the Maximum Reduced Proper Motion method (Phan-Bao et al. 2003) to detect 57 nearby L and late-M dwarfs (d_phot <= 30 pc): 36 of them are newly discovered. Spectroscopic observations of 43 of the 57 ultracool dwarfs were previously reported in Martin et al. (2010). These ultracool dwarfs were identified by color criteria in ~5,000 square degrees of the DENIS database and then further selected by the method for spectroscopic follow-up to determine their spectral types and spectroscopic distances. We also report here our newly measured proper motions of these ultracool dwarfs from multi-epoch images found in public archives (ALADIN, DSS, 2MASS, DENIS), with at least three distinct epochs and time baselines of 2 to 46 years.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichte