Young, low-mass stars in the solar neighborhood are vital for completing the mass function for nearby, young coeval groups, establishing a more complete census for evolutionary studies, and providing ...targets for direct-imaging exoplanet and/or disk studies. We present properties derived from high-resolution optical spectra for 336 candidate young nearby, low-mass stars. These include measurements of radial velocities and age diagnostics such as H and Li λ6707 equivalent widths. Combining our radial velocities with astrometry from Gaia DR2, we provide full 3D kinematics for the entire sample. We combine the measured spectroscopic youth information with additional age diagnostics (e.g., X-ray and UV fluxes, color-magnitude diagram positions) and kinematics to evaluate potential membership in nearby, young moving groups and associations. We identify 77 objects in our sample as bona fide members of 10 different moving groups, 14 of which are completely new members or have had their group membership reassigned. We also reject 44 previously proposed candidate moving group members. Furthermore, we have newly identified or confirmed the youth of numerous additional stars that do not belong to any currently known group and find 69 comoving systems using Gaia DR2 astrometry. We also find evidence that the Carina association is younger than previously thought, with an age similar to the β Pictoris moving group (∼22 Myr).
Low-mass stars are currently the most promising targets for detecting and characterizing habitable planets in the solar neighborhood. However, the ultraviolet (UV) radiation emitted by such stars can ...erode and modify planetary atmospheres over time, drastically affecting their habitability. Thus, knowledge of the UV evolution of low-mass stars is critical for interpreting the evolutionary history of any orbiting planets. Shkolnik & Barman used photometry from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) to show how UV emission evolves for early-type M stars (>0.35 M ). In this paper, we extend their work to include both a larger sample of low-mass stars with known ages as well as M stars with lower masses. We find clear evidence that mid- and late-type M stars (0.08-0.35 M ) do not follow the same UV evolutionary trend as early-Ms. Lower-mass M stars retain high levels of UV activity up to field ages, with only a factor of 4 decrease on average in GALEX NUV and FUV flux density between young (<50 Myr) and old (∼5 Gyr) stars, compared to a factor of 11 and 31 for early-Ms in NUV and FUV, respectively. We also find that the FUV/NUV flux density ratio, which can affect the photochemistry of important planetary biosignatures, is mass- and age-dependent for early-Ms, but remains relatively constant for the mid- and late-type Ms in our sample.
Abstract
We present the positions, proper motions, and near-infrared photometry for 966 known objects with spectral types later than M that were observed as part of the the UKIRT Hemisphere Survey ...(UHS). We augment the photometry and astrometry from UHS with information from Gaia DR3, Pan-STARRS DR2, and CatWISE 2020 to produce a database of homogeneous photometry and astrometry for this sample. The multi-epoch survey strategy of UHS allows us to determine the proper motions for most sources, with a median proper motion uncertainty of ∼3.6 mas yr
−1
. Our UHS proper motion measurements are generally in good agreement with those from Gaia DR3, Pan-STARRS, and CatWISE 2020, with UHS proper motions typically more precise than those from CatWISE 2020 and Pan-STARRS but not Gaia DR3. We critically analyze the publicly available spectra for 406 members of this sample and provide updated near-infrared spectral types for ∼100 objects. We determine typical colors as a function of spectral type and provide absolute magnitude versus spectral type relations for UHS
J
- and
K
-band photometry. Using newly determined proper motions, we highlight several objects of interest, such as objects with large tangential velocities, widely separated co-moving companions, and potential members of young nearby associations.
ABSTRACT We present WISEA J114724.10-204021.3, a young, low-mass, high-probability member of the TW Hya association (TWA). WISEA J114724.10-204021.3 was discovered based on its red AllWISE color (W1 ...− W2 = 0.63 mag) and extremely red 2MASS J − KS color (>2.64 mag), the latter of which is confirmed with near-infrared photometry from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Hemisphere Survey (J − KS = 2.57 0.03). Follow-up near-infrared spectroscopy shows a spectral type of L7 1 as well as several spectroscopic indicators of youth. These include a peaked H-band shape and a steeper K-band slope, traits typically attributed to low surface gravity. The sky position, proper motion, and distance estimates of WISEA J114724.10-204021.3 are all consistent with membership in the ∼10 Myr old TWA. Using the age of the TWA and evolutionary models, we estimate the mass of WISEA J114724.10-204021.3 to be 5-13 MJup, making it one of the youngest and lowest-mass free-floating objects yet discovered in the Solar neighborhood.
Abstract
We present the first JWST spectral energy distribution of a Y dwarf. This spectral energy distribution of the Y0 dwarf WISE J035934.06−540154.6 consists of low-resolution (
λ
/Δ
λ
∼100) ...spectroscopy from 1–12
μ
m and three photometric points at 15, 18, and 21
μ
m. The spectrum exhibits numerous fundamental, overtone, and combination rotational–vibrational bands of H
2
O, CH
4
, CO, CO
2
, and NH
3
, including the previously unidentified
ν
3
band of NH
3
at 3
μ
m. Using a Rayleigh–Jeans tail to account for the flux emerging at wavelengths greater than 21
μ
m, we measure a bolometric luminosity of 1.523 ± 0.090 × 10
20
W. We determine a semiempirical effective temperature estimate of
467
−
18
+
16
K using the bolometric luminosity and evolutionary models to estimate a radius. Finally, we compare the spectrum and photometry to a grid of atmospheric models and find reasonably good agreement with a model having
T
eff
= 450 K, log
g
= 3.25 cm s
−2
, and M/H = −0.3. However, the low surface gravity implies an extremely low mass of 1
M
Jup
and a very young age of 20 Myr, the latter of which is inconsistent with simulations of volume-limited samples of cool brown dwarfs.
Knowing the high-energy radiation environment of a star over a planet's formation and evolutionary period is critical in determining if that planet is potentially habitable and if any biosignatures ...could be detected, as UV radiation can severely change or destroy a planet's atmosphere. Current efforts for finding a potentially habitable planet are focused on M stars, yet K stars may offer more habitable conditions due to decreased stellar activity and more distant and wider habitable zones (HZs). While M star activity evolution has been observed photometrically and spectroscopically, there has been no dedicated investigation of K star UV evolution. We present the first comprehensive study of the near-UV, far-UV, and X-ray evolution of K stars. We used members of young moving groups and clusters ranging in age from 10 to 625 Myr combined with field stars and their archived GALEX UV and ROSAT X-ray data to determine how the UV and X-ray radiation evolve. We find that the UV and X-ray flux incident on an HZ planet is 5-50 times lower than that of HZ planets around early-M stars and 50-1000 times lower than those around late-M stars, due to both an intrinsic decrease in K dwarf stellar activity occurring earlier than for M dwarfs and the more distant location of the K dwarf HZ.
Ultra-cool brown dwarfs offer a unique window into understanding substellar atmospheric physics and chemistry. Their strong molecular absorption bands at infrared wavelengths, Jupiter-like radii, ...cool temperatures, and lack of complicating stellar irradiation make them ideal test beds for understanding Jovian-like atmospheres. Here, we report the findings of a uniform atmospheric retrieval analysis on a set of 14 Y- and T-type dwarfs observed with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. From our retrieval analysis, we find the temperature structures to be largely consistent with radiative-convective equilibrium in most objects. We also determine the abundances of water, methane, and ammonia, as well as upper limits on the alkali metals sodium and potassium. The constraints on water and methane are consistent with predictions from chemical equilibrium models, while those of ammonia may be affected by vertical disequilibrium mixing, consistent with previous works. Our key result stems from the constraints on the alkali metal abundances where we find their continued depletion with decreasing effective temperature, consistent with the trend identified in a previous retrieval analysis on a sample of slightly warmer late T-dwarfs in Line et al. (2017). These constraints show that the previously observed Y-J color trend across the T/Y transition is most likely due to the depletion of these metals, in accordance with predictions from equilibrium condensate rainout chemistry. Finally, we simulate future James Webb Space Telescope observations of ultra-cool dwarfs and find that the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) PRISM offers the best chance at developing high-precision constraints on fundamental atmospheric characteristics.
Quantifying the evolution of stellar extreme ultraviolet (EUV, 100-1000 ) emission is critical for assessing the evolution of planetary atmospheres and the habitability of M dwarf systems. Previous ...studies from the HAbitable Zones and M dwarf Activity across Time (HAZMAT) program showed the far- and near-UV (FUV, NUV) emission from M stars at various stages of a stellar lifetime through photometric measurements from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). The results revealed increased levels of short-wavelength emission that remain elevated for hundreds of millions of years. The trend for EUV flux as a function of age could not be determined empirically because absorption by the interstellar medium prevents access to the EUV wavelengths for the vast majority of stars. In this paper, we model the evolution of EUV flux from early M stars to address this observational gap. We present synthetic spectra spanning EUV to infrared wavelengths of 0.4 0.05 M☉ stars at five distinct ages between 10 and 5000 Myr, computed with the PHOENIX atmosphere code and guided by the GALEX photometry. We model a range of EUV fluxes spanning two orders of magnitude, consistent with the observed spread in X-ray, FUV, and NUV flux at each epoch. Our results show that the stellar EUV emission from young M stars is 100 times stronger than field age M stars, and decreases as t−1 after remaining constant for a few hundred million years. This decline stems from changes in the chromospheric temperature structure, which steadily shifts outward with time. Our models reconstruct the full spectrally and temporally resolved history of an M star's UV radiation, including the unobservable EUV radiation, which drives planetary atmospheric escape, directly impacting a planet's potential for habitability.
Cold brown dwarfs are excellent analogs of widely separated, gas giant exoplanets, and provide insight into the potential atmospheric chemistry and physics we may encounter in objects to be ...discovered by future direct imaging surveys. We present a low-resolution, R ∼ 300, M-band spectroscopic sequence of seven brown dwarfs with effective temperatures between 750 and 250 K along with Jupiter. These spectra reveal disequilibrium abundances of carbon monoxide (CO) produced by atmospheric quenching. We use the eddy diffusion coefficient (Kzz) to estimate the strength of vertical mixing in each object. The Kzz values of cooler gaseous objects are close to their theoretical maximum, and warmer objects show weaker mixing, likely due to less efficient convective mixing in primarily radiative layers. The CO-derived Kzz values imply that disequilibrium phosphine (PH3) should be easily observable in all of the brown dwarfs, but none as yet show any evidence for PH3 absorption. We find that ammonia is relatively insensitive to atmospheric quenching at these effective temperatures. We are able to improve the fit to WISE 0855's M-band spectrum by including both CO and water clouds in the atmospheric model.
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