AAS Journal Author Series: Kayla Smith and Mark Marley on 2026ApJ..1000..304S

Kayla Smith (University of Arizona) chats about her article on a new set of equilibrium temperature evolution tracks for brown dwarfs that use the outputs of modern brown dwarf evolution models that account for the effects of deuterium-burning, cloud formation and dissipation, and the most recent atmospheric opacities. Brown dwarfs cool more slowly with clouds, allowing orbiting planets to remain in the habitable zone for millions of years longer than previously estimated. Deuterium burning also slows the evolution; creating deuterium “sweet spots” for habitability around brown dwarfs near the deuterium-burning limit. The Influence of Clouds and Deuterium-burning on Brown Dwarf Habitable Zones https://scixplorer.org/abs/2026ApJ..1... Kayla's web presence: https://gradcenter.arizona.edu/person... The intended audience for the AAS Journal Author Series is active researchers. This video is a collaboration between AAS Publishing and Black in Astro for #BlackSpaceWeek2026.