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Observational facilities allow now the detection of optical and IR spectra of young M- and L-dwarfs. This enables empirical comparisons with old M- and L- dwarfs, and detailed studies in comparison with synthetic spectra. While classical stellar atmosphere physics seems perfectly appropriate for old M-dwarfs, more physical and chemical processes, cloud formation in particular, needs to be modelled in the substellar regime to allow a detailed spectral interpretation. Not much is known so far about the details of the inset of cloud formation at the spectral transition region between M and L dwarfs. Furthermore there is observational evidence for diversity in the dust properties of objects having the same spectral type. Do we understand these differences? The question is also how young M- and L-dwarfs need to be classified, which stellar parameter do they have and whether degenerations in the stellar parameter space due to the changing atmosphere physics are present, like in the L-T transition region. The Splinter was driven by these questions which we will use to encourage interactions between observation and theory. Given the recent advances, both in observations and spectral modelling, an intensive discussion between observers and theoreticians will create new synergies in our field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present first results from a multi-object spectroscopy campaign in IC2602, the Hyades, the Pleiades, and the Coma cluster using VLT/FLAMES. We analysed the data for radial velocity, rotational velocity (v sin i), and Hα-activity. Here, we highlight three aspects of this study in the context of rotational braking and the rotation-activity relationship among low mass stars. Finally we discuss the cluster membership of sources in IC2602. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtained medium-resolution infrared K-band integral field spectroscopy with VLT/Sinfoni for the brown dwarf TWA 5 B, a companion to the weak-line T Tauri star TWA 5 in the TW Hya association. We compare the final spectrum with theoretical model atmospheres from DRIFT-PHOENIX (Dehn et al. 2007, Helling et al. 2008 ab, Witte 2008) for temperature from 2000 to 3100 K, gravity log g = 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0 (g in cm/s2) and metallicity -0.5, 0.0 (solar), and 0.5; we also varried the extinction towards TWA 5 B while searching for the best-fit model between Av = 0.0 and 15 mag. The best-fitting model spectrum yields the following parameters for TWA 5 B: Effective temperature Teff≃2800 K, metallicity [M/H]≃-0.5 (for metal content M), surface gravity log g≃4.0, and extinction Av = 0.0 mag. From these parameters and the distance towards TWA (∼65 pc), we can compute the mass of the brown dwarf to be roughly 25 Jupiter masses, but with large error bars including massive planets and low-mass stars. Given its projected separation from the primary star, ∼123 AU, it has certainly more likely formed star-like, i.e. being a brown dwarf companion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]