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[93.03] A Search for Brown Dwarf Companions Using the Keck Adaptive Optics Facility

E. Martin, S. Kulkarni (Caltech), C. Koresko (JPL), B. Lane (Caltech), P. Wizinowich (Keck Obs.)

We have initiated a search for brown dwarf companions to nearby stars at small angular scales, taking advantage of the high spatial resolution given by the Keck Adaptive Optics Facility. We probe a region (1--30 AU) were planets are found. Our goals are: (1) to investigate the formation mechanism of companion brown dwarfs, (2) to derive orbital parameters, particularly masses, (3) to constrain evolutionary models of very low mass objects. In our first Keck AO run, we have identified a new brown dwarf candidate with a separation of only 1 Astromical Unity.