Theory of low mass stars, brown dwarfs and extra-solar giant planets

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Abstract
Accurate modeling of the mechanical and thermal properties of very-lowmass stars (VLMS), Brown Dwarfs (BD) and Extra-solar Giant Planets (EGP) is of prior importance for a wide range of physical and astrophysical problems, from the fundamental physics point of view to the astrophysical and cosmological implications. They provide natural laboratories to test the different theories, equations of state, nuclear reaction rates, model atmospheres aimed at describing the physics of dense and cool objects. They represent the largest stellar population in the Galaxy, and thus provide a substantial contribution to the Galactic (disk) mass budget. Finally they represent one of the most intriguing questions in our understanding of the formation of star-like objects: are planet and star formation processes really different? Is there, and if so what is, a minimum mass for the formation of star-like objects? This field has blossomed recently with the discovery of several brown dwarfs (Nakajima et al, 1995; Rebolo et al., 1995) and numerous exoplanets since 51 Pegasi (Mayor and Queloz 1995; Mayor, this conference), which provide important information to challenge the theory.

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