Primeval very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. I. Six new L subdwarfs, classification and atmospheric properties

We have conducted a search for L subdwarf candidates within the photometric catalogues of the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Six of our candidates are confirmed as L subdwarfs spectroscopically at optical and/or near infrared wavelengths. We also present new optical spectra of three previously known L subdwarfs (WISEA J001450.17-083823.4, 2MASS J00412179+3547133, ULAS J124425.75+102439.3). We examined the spectral types and metallicity subclasses classification of known L subdwarfs. We summarised the spectroscopic properties of L subdwarfs with different spectral types and subclasses. We classify these new L subdwarfs by comparing their spectra to known L subdwarfs and L dwarf standards. We estimate temperatures and metallicities of 22 late type M and L subdwarfs by comparing their spectra to BT-Settl models. We find that L subdwarfs have temperatures between 1500 K and 2700 K, which are higher than similarly-typed L dwarfs by around 100-400 K depending on different subclasses and subtypes. We constrained the metallicity ranges of subclasses of M, L and T subdwarfs. We also discussed the spectral type and absolute magnitude relationships for L and T subdwarfs.