Rotation and variability of substellar objects

When applied to brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets, this technique can constrain global atmospheric dynamics and/or magnetic effects on these objects in un- precedented detail. I present the first quantitative assessment of the prospects for Doppler Imaging of substellar objects with current facilities and with future giant ground-based telescopes.

Observations will have the greatest sensitivity in K band, but the H and L bands will also be useful for these purposes. To assess the number and availability of targets, I also present a compilation of all measurements of photometric variability, rotation period (P), and projected rotational velocity (vsini) for brown dwarfs and exoplanets. Several bright objects are already accessible to Doppler Imaging with currently available instruments.