We present opacity sampling model atmospheres, synthetic spectra and colors for brown dwarfs and very low mass stars in two limiting case of dust grain formation: 1) inefficient gravitational settling i.e. the dust is distributed according to the chemical equilibrium predictions, 2) efficient gravitational settling i.e. the dust forms and depletes refractory elements from the gas, but their opacity does not affect the thermal structure. The models include the formation of over 600 gas phase species, and 1000 liquids and crystals, and the opacities of 30 different types of grains including corundum (Al$_2$O$_3$), the magnesium aluminum spinel MgAl$_2$O$_4$, iron, enstatite (MgSiO$_3$), forsterite (Mg$_2$SiO$_4$), amorphous carbon, SiC, and a number of calcium silicates. The models extend from the beginning of the grain formation regime well into the condensation regime of water ice ($\teff= 3000 - 100$ K) and encompasses the range of $\log g= 2.5 - 6.0$ at solar metallicity. We find that silicate dust grains can form abundantly in the outer atmospheric layers of red and brown dwarfs with spectral type later than M8. The greenhouse effects of dust opacities provide a natural explanation for the peculiarly red spectroscopic distribution of the latest M dwarfs and young brown dwarfs. The grainless (Cond) models on the other hand, correspond closely to methane brown dwarfs such as Gliese 229B. We also recover that the $\lambda$5891,5897\AA Na I D and $\lambda$7687,7701\AA K I resonance doublets plays a critical role in T dwarfs where their red wing define the pseudo-continuum from the $I$ to the $Z$ bandpass.Comment: 49 pages, ApJ, in press. 22 figures (included). Corrected nasty typos. Also available at http:/phoenix.physast.uga.ed

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The profile of the silicate 10 mm IR band contains important information about the evolutional stage of dust in circumstellar environments and the possible ongoing process of planetesimal formation. In order to extract this information, the observed band profiles are compared with calculated or laboratory-measured absorption cross sections of amorphous and crystalline grains with different sizes and compositions. We present in this study the first laboratory measurements of the 10 mm band profiles of nonembedded, i.e., free-flying, particles of amorphous and crystalline Mg 2 SiO 4 (with two different particle shapes), amorphous and crystalline MgSiO 3 , and crystalline olivine. We compare the spectra with those measured on embedded grains and discuss the potential of the new experimental method for comparison with observed spectra, as well as for future studies of agglomeration and surface manipulation of the grains.

Context. Debris disks trace remnant reservoirs of leftover planetesimals in planetary systems. In the past years, a handful of "warm" debris disks have been discovered in which emission in excess starts in the mid-infrared. An interesting subset of these warm debris disks shows emission features in mid-infrared spectra, which points towards the presence of μm-sized dust grains, with temperatures above hundreds K. Given the ages of the host stars, the presence of these small grains is puzzling, and raises questions about their origin and survival in time.Aims. This study focuses on determining the mineralogy of the dust around seven debris disks with evidence for warm dust, based on Spitzer/IRS spectroscopic data, to provide new insights into the origin of the dust grains. Methods. We developed and present a new radiative transfer code (Debra) dedicated to spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling of optically thin disks. The Debra code is designed such that it can simultaneously determine dust composition and disk properties. We used this code on the SEDs of seven warm debris disks, in combination with recent laboratory experiments on dust optical properties. Results. We find that most, if not all, debris disks in our sample are experiencing a transient phase, suggesting a production of small dust grains on relatively short timescales. Dust replenishment should be efficient on timescales of months for at least three sources. From a mineralogical point of view, we find that crystalline pyroxene grains (enstatite) have low abundances compared to crystalline olivine grains. The main result of our study is that we find evidence for Fe-rich crystalline olivine grains (Fe/[Mg + Fe] ∼ 0.2) for several debris disks. This finding contrasts with studies of gas-rich protoplanetary disks, where Fe-bearing crystalline grains are usually not observed. Conclusions. These Fe-rich olivine grains, and the overall differences between the mineralogy of dust in Class II disks compared to debris disks suggests that the transient crystalline dust in warm debris disk is of a new generation. We discuss possible crystallization routes to explain our results, and also comment on the mechanisms that may be responsible for the production of small dust grains.