Program: GS-2013B-Q-79

Extending the current census of young nearby associations toward lower masses is essential to study the IMF down to substellar masses and understand the evolution and atmospheres of young brown dwarfs. Based on the proper motions and photometric properties of a large sample of red stars derived from a correlation of 2MASS with WISE, we identified 163 highly probable late-type (M4 - L6) members of several young, nearby associations. As the youth (i.e. low surface gravity) of such objects should be apparent from some atomic lines (e.g. NaI, KI, FeH) and shape of the H-band continuum in their NIR spectrum, we propose to use FLAMINGOS-2 to confirm the youth, and thus membership, of 108 candidates visible this semester. This program will unveil a significant population of young brown dwarfs, down to the planetary mass regime, providing high-quality template spectra as benchmarks for atmosphere models.