JHKs photometry of Cha I variables

Data were obtained on 15 separate nights over a 4 month time interval, from January to May 2000, using the Two Micron All Sky Survey south telescope. Out of a total of 34,539 sources brighter than the photometric completeness limits (J=16.0, H=15.2, and Ks=14.8), 95 exhibit near-infrared variability in one or more bands.

The variables can be grouped into a population of bright, red objects that are associated with the Chamaeleon I association and a population of faint, blue variables that are dispersed over the full 6{deg} of the survey and are likely field stars or older pre-main-sequence stars unrelated to the present-day Chamaeleon I molecular cloud. Ten new candidate members of Chamaeleon I, including eight brown dwarf candidates, have been identified based on variability and/or near-infrared-excess emission in the J-H versus H-Ks color-color diagram.