  We report the results of deep infrared observations of brown dwarf candidates
in the Trapezium cluster in Orion. Analysis of the JHK color-color diagram
indicates that a large fraction (approx 65% +/- 15%) of the observed sources
exhibit infrared excess emission. This suggests the extreme youth of these
objects and in turn, provides strong independent confirmation of the existence
of a large population of substellar objects in the cluster. Moreover, this
suggests that the majority of these substellar objects are presently surrounded
by circumstellar disks similar to the situation for the stellar population of
the cluster. This evidence for a high initial disk frequency (> 50%) around
cluster members of all masses combined with the smooth continuity of the
cluster's initial mass function across the hydrogen burning limit suggests that
a single physical mechanism is likely responsible for producing the entire
cluster mass spectrum down to near the deuterium burning limit. The results may
also indicate that even substellar objects are capable of forming with systems
of planetary companions.
