Extending the Canada-France brown dwarfs survey to the near-infrared: first ultracool brown dwarfs from CFBDSIR

Aims. We present the first results of the ongoing Canada-France Brown Dwarfs Survey-InfraRed, hereafter CFBDSIR, a near infrared extension to the optical wide-field survey CFBDS. Our final objectives are to constrain ultracool atmosphere physics by finding a statistically significant sample of objects cooler than 650 K and to explore the ultracool brown dwarf mass function building on a well-defined sample of such objects. Methods. We identify candidates in CFHT/WIRCam J and CFHT/MegaCam z' images using optimised psf-fitting, and follow them up with pointed, near-infrared imaging with SOFI at the NTT. We finally obtain low-resolution spectroscopy of the coolest candidates to characterise their atmospheric physics. Results. We have so far analysed and followed up all candidates on the first 66 square degrees of the 335 square degree survey. We identified 55 T-dwarfs candidates with z' - J > 3.5 and have confirmed six of them as T-dwarfs, including 3 that are strong later-than-T8 candidates, based on their far-red and NIR colours. We also present here the NIR spectra of one of these ultracool dwarfs, CFBDSIR1458+1013, which confirms it as one of the coolest brown dwarf known, possibly in the 550-600 K temperature range. Conclusions. From the completed survey we expect to discover 10 to 15 dwarfs later than T8, more than doubling the known number of such objects. This will enable detailed studies of their extreme atmospheric properties and provide a stronger statistical basis for studies of their luminosity function.