FORMATION OF BROWN DWARFS VS GIANT PLANETS: CONFRONTING THEORY WITH OBSERVATIONS

G. Chabrier (ENS-Lyon/U. Exeter, Lyon, France),
M. Janson (Princeton University, United States),
A. Johansen (Lund Observatory, Sweden),
R. Rafikov (Princeton University, United States)

The formation of brown dwarfs and gaseous planets is one of the most debated issues in the general domain of planet and star formation. These objects by definition lie in the overlapping domain between stars and low-mass planets. Finding out whether their formation involves completely distinctive mechanisms or, on the contrary, shares common processes remains a key question fo fully understand structure formation over the entire planetary and stellar regime. It is the aim of the present review to address these questions and to find out whether or not we have reasonably robust answers. We will critically examine our present understanding of brown dwarf and giant planet formation and will confront the predictions of the various suggested formation scenarios with observations. As the outcome of these confrontations, we will try to determine what is or are the common and different dominant mechanisms for brown dwarf and planet formation and whether one can provide reasonably sound answers to the above questions. Finally, we will identify possible observational diagnostics to distinguish these two different populations as imprints from their formation mechanism, providing guidance for future observational strategies.

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