Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Very Low-Luminosity Young Stellar Objects in the Taurus Molecular Cloud

We have carried out near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 23 very low-luminosity young stellar object (YSO) candidates and 5 their companions in Heiles Cloud 2, one of the densest parts of the Taurus molecular cloud. Twelve objects were confirmed as YSOs by Br gamma feature. The effective temperatures of the YSOs and of the companions are estimated from the 2.26 micron feature, the 2.21 micron feature, and the H2O band strengths. Detailed comparisons of our photometric and spectroscopic observations with evolutionary tracks on the HR diagram suggest some objects to be very low-mass YSOs.