Program: GN-2017B-Q-8

Measuring the substellar IMF and its minimum mass would provide a fundamental test of theories of star and planet formation. Because it is well populated and nearby (~450 members, 140 pc), Taurus is one of the most promising star-forming regions for performing measurements of this kind. We have identified candidate brown dwarfs in Taurus using optical/IR color-magnitude diagrams and proper motions measured primarily with Spitzer, UKIDSS, and PanSTARRS1. We have obtained near-IR spectra of 26 candidates with Gemini and IRTF to measure their spectral types and determine if they are members of Taurus. Two-thirds of those candidates were confirmed as members with masses as low as 5 M_Jup. We propose to obtain spectra of the remaining 38 candidates with GNIRS.