Computer simulations of Brown Dwarf's weather

Figure 1: The number of dust particles formed from a gas typical for a Brown Dwarf atmosphere [click for movie]. The left panel shows an early time and the right panel shows a later time of the computer simulation. The increasing size of the dust pattern with time may be an explanation for the observed variability of Brown Dwarfs.

The results have been published in:

• Dust in Brown Dwarfs
  IV. Dust formation and driven turbulence on mesoscopic scales
  Ch. Helling, R. Klein, P. Woitke, U. Nowak, E. Sedlmayr A&A 2004, accepted
  --> pre-print available as ZIB-Report 03-33
• Dust in Brown Dwarfs
  I. Dust formation under turbulent conditions on microscopic scales
  Ch. Helling, M. Oevermann, M.J.H. Lüttke, R. Klein, E. Sedlmayr 2001, A&A 376, 194-212

More information on my work.

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08.05.2004
helling@strw.leidenuniv.nl