Program: GS-2016A-Q-32

The measurement of the minimum mass of the IMF would provide a fundamental test of theories of star and planet formation. To provide better constraints on the shape of the substellar IMF and its minimum mass, we have identified candidate low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the Ophiuchus and RCrA star-forming regions (150 pc) using optical/IR color-magnitude diagrams and proper motions measured from multi-epoch Spitzer images. We propose to use COSMOS, ARCoIRIS, FLAMINGOS-2, and GNIRS to obtain spectra of roughly 200 candidates to determine whether they are members of their respective clusters and to measure their spectral types. [This proposal contains observations with Gemini and CTIO. We are submitting one version of the proposal to both NOAO and Gemini.]