Belinda Damian
SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Abstract
Exploring circumstellar disks around low-mass objects - from low-mass stars and brown dwarfs down to free-floating planetary-mass objects (FFPMOs) - provides crucial insights into both the evolution of stellar populations and the origins of planetary systems. In this talk, I will discuss the influence of environment in the evolution of disks around these objects and its role in shaping the substellar initial mass function down to planetary masses. I will also present recent results from our JWST near- and mid-infrared observations of eight young FFPMOs with masses of 5–10 Jupiter masses. These observations reveal the presence of silicate clouds in the cool atmosphere of one of our objects and mid-infrared excess in six of them with silicate emission features indicating the presence of circum-substellar disks. The inferred disk properties demonstrate grain growth and crystallization, processes previously observed only in disks around stars and brown dwarfs. Some of our targets also show prominent hydrocarbon features and together these results give us new insights into the formation of rocky companions around FFPMOs.

2026 February 24, 13:30

IA/U.Lisboa
Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (C8.2.03)
Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa