Candidates of the {rho} Oph cluster

We have applied this technique to a new, deep, wide-field, near-infrared imaging survey of the {rho} Ophiuchi cloud core to search for candidate low-mass members.

In conjunction with published Spitzer IRAC photometry and least-squares fits of model spectra (COND, DUSTY, NextGen, and blackbody) to the observed spectral energy distributions, we have identified 948 candidate cloud members within our 90% completeness limits of J=20.0, H=20.0, and Ks=18.50. This population represents a factor of ~3 increase in the number of known young stellar objects in the {rho}} Ophiuchi cloud. A large fraction of the candidate cluster members (81%+/-3%) exhibit infrared excess emission consistent with the presence of disks, thus strengthening the possibility of their being bona fide cloud members.