Optical spectroscopy is used to confirm membership for eight low-mass candidates in the young Beta Pic moving group (BPMG) via their radial velocities, chromospheric activity and kinematic ...parallaxes. We searched for the presence of the Li i 6708 Å resonance feature and combined the results with literature measurements of other BPMG members to find the age-dependent lithium depletion boundary (LDB) - the luminosity at which Li remains unburned in a coeval group. The LDB age of the BPMG is 21 ± 4 Myr and insensitive to the choice of low-mass evolutionary models. This age is more precise, likely to be more accurate, and much older than that commonly assumed for the BPMG. As a result, substellar and planetary companions of BPMG members will be more massive than previously thought.
Optical spectroscopic observations are reported for 24 and 23, nearby, proper-motion-selected M-dwarf candidate members of the Beta Pictoris and AB Doradus moving groups (BPMG and ABDMG). Using ...kinematic criteria, the presence of both Hα emission and high X-ray-to-bolometric luminosity, and position in absolute colour–magnitude diagrams, 10 and 6 of these candidates are confirmed as likely members of the BPMG and ABDMG, respectively. Equivalent widths or upper limits for the Li i 6708 Å line are reported and the lithium depletion boundary (LDB) age of the BPMG is revisited. Whilst non-magnetic evolutionary models still yield an estimated age of 21 ± 4 Myr, models that incorporate magnetic inhibition of convection imply an older age of 24 ± 4 Myr. A similar systematic increase would be inferred if the stars were 25 per cent covered by dark magnetic starspots. Since young, convective M-dwarfs are magnetically active and do have starspots, we suggest that the original LDB age estimate is a lower limit. The LDB age of the ABDMG is still poorly constrained – non-magnetic evolutionary models suggest an age in the range 35–150 Myr, which could be significantly tightened by new measurements for existing candidate members.
A polytropic model is used to investigate the effects of dark photospheric spots on the evolution and radii of magnetically active, low-mass (M < 0.5 M⊙), pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars. Spots slow ...the contraction along Hayashi tracks and inflate the radii of PMS stars by a factor of (1 − β)−N
compared to unspotted stars of the same luminosity, where β is the equivalent covering fraction of dark starspots and N ≃ 0.45 ± 0.05. This is a much stronger inflation than predicted by Spruit & Weiss for main-sequence stars with the same β, where N ∼ 0.2–0.3. These models have been compared to radii determined for very magnetically active K- and M-dwarfs in the young Pleiades and NGC 2516 clusters, and the radii of tidally locked, low-mass eclipsing binary components. The binary components and zero-age main-sequence K-dwarfs have radii inflated by ∼10 per cent compared to an empirical radius–luminosity relation that is defined by magnetically inactive field dwarfs with interferometrically measured radii; low-mass M-type PMS stars, that are still on their Hayashi tracks, are inflated by up to ∼40 per cent. If this were attributable to starspots alone, we estimate that an effective spot coverage of 0.35 < β < 0.51 is required. Alternatively, global inhibition of convective flux transport by dynamo-generated fields may play a role. However, we find greater consistency with the starspot models when comparing the loci of active young stars and inactive field stars in colour–magnitude diagrams, particularly for the highly inflated PMS stars, where the large, uniform temperature reduction required in globally inhibited convection models would cause the stars to be much redder than observed.
We have derived ages for 13 young (<30 Myr) star-forming regions and find that they are up to a factor of 2 older than the ages typically adopted in the literature. This result has wide-ranging ...implications, including that circumstellar discs survive longer (≃ 10-12 Myr) and that the average Class I lifetime is greater ( 1 Myr) than currently believed. For each star-forming region, we derived two ages from colour-magnitude diagrams. First, we fitted models of the evolution between the zero-age main sequence and terminal-age main sequence to derive a homogeneous set of main-sequence ages, distances and reddenings with statistically meaningful uncertainties. Our second age for each star-forming region was derived by fitting pre-main-sequence stars to new semi-empirical model isochrones. For the first time (for a set of clusters younger than 50 Myr), we find broad agreement between these two ages, and since these are derived from two distinct mass regimes that rely on different aspects of stellar physics, it gives us confidence in the new age scale. This agreement is largely due to our adoption of empirical colour-T
eff relations and bolometric corrections for pre-main-sequence stars cooler than 4000 K. The revised ages for the star-forming regions in our sample are: ∼2 Myr for NGC 6611 (Eagle Nebula; M 16), IC 5146 (Cocoon Nebula), NGC 6530 (Lagoon Nebula; M 8) and NGC 2244 (Rosette Nebula); ∼6 Myr for σ Ori, Cep OB3b and IC 348; 10 Myr for λ Ori (Collinder 69); 11 Myr for NGC 2169; 12 Myr for NGC 2362; 13 Myr for NGC 7160; 14 Myr for χ Per (NGC 884); and 20 Myr for NGC 1960 (M 36).
We present a model that predicts the light-curve amplitude distribution for an ensemble of low-mass magnetically active stars, under the assumptions that stellar spin axes are randomly orientated and ...that cool starspots have a characteristic scalelength and are randomly distributed across the stellar surfaces. The model is compared with observational data for highly magnetically active M-dwarfs in the young cluster NGC 2516. We find that the best-fitting starspot scalelength is not constrained by these data alone, but requires assumptions about the overall starspot-filling factor and starspot temperature. Assuming a spot coverage fraction of 0.4 ± 0.1 and a starspot to unspotted photosphere temperature ratio of 0.7 ± 0.05, as suggested by the inflated radii of these stars compared to evolutionary model predictions and by TiO band measurements on other active cool stars of earlier spectral type, the best-fitting starspot angular scalelength is 3.5+ 2
− 1 degrees, or a linear scalelength of ∼25 000 km. This linear scalelength is similar to large sunspot groups, but two to five times smaller than the starspots recently deduced on an active G-dwarf using eclipse mapping by a transiting exoplanet. However, the best-fitting spot scalelength in the NGC 2516 M-dwarfs increases with the assumed spot temperature ratio and with the inverse square root of the assumed spot-filling factor. Hence, the light-curve amplitude distribution might equally well be described by these larger spot scalelengths if the spot-filling factors are <0.1 or the spot temperature ratio is >0.9.
ABSTRACT
New fibre spectroscopy and radial velocities from the WIYN telescope are used to measure photospheric lithium in 242 high-probability, zero-age main-sequence F- to K-type members of the rich ...cluster M35. Combining these with published rotation periods, the connection between lithium depletion and rotation is studied in unprecedented detail. At Teff < 5500 K there is a strong relationship between faster rotation and less Li depletion, although with a dispersion larger than measurement uncertainties. Components of photometrically identified binary systems follow the same relationship. A correlation is also established between faster rotation rate (or smaller Rossby number), decreased Li depletion and larger stellar radius at a given Teff. These results support models where star-spots and interior magnetic fields lead to inflated radii and reduced Li depletion during the pre-main-sequence (PMS) phase for the fastest rotators. However, the data are also consistent with the idea that all stars suffered lower levels of Li depletion than predicted by standard PMS models, perhaps because of deficiencies in those models or because saturated levels of magnetic activity suppress Li depletion equally in PMS stars of similar Teff regardless of rotation rate, and that slower rotators subsequently experience more mixing and post-PMS Li depletion.
In a coeval group of low-mass stars, the luminosity of the sharp transition between stars that retain their initial lithium and those at slightly higher masses in which Li has been depleted by ...nuclear reactions, the lithium depletion boundary (LDB), has been advanced as an almost model-independent means of establishing an age scale for young stars. Here, we construct polytropic models of contracting pre-main sequence stars (PMS) that have cool, magnetic star-spots blocking a fraction β of their photospheric flux. Star-spots slow the descent along Hayashi tracks, leading to lower core temperatures and less Li destruction at a given mass and age. The age, τLDB, determined from the luminosity of the LDB, L
LDB, is increased by a factor of (1 − β)−E
compared to that inferred from unspotted models, where E ≃ 1 + dlog τLDB/dlog L
LDB and has a value ∼0.5 at ages <80 Myr, decreasing to ∼0.3 for older stars. Spotted stars have virtually the same relationship between K-band bolometric correction and colour as unspotted stars, so this relationship applies equally to ages inferred from the absolute K magnitude of the LDB. Low-mass PMS stars do have star-spots, but the appropriate value of β is highly uncertain with a probable range of 0.1 < β < 0.4. For the smaller β values, our result suggests a modest systematic increase in LDB ages that is comparable with the maximum levels of theoretical uncertainty previously claimed for the technique. The largest β values would however increase LDB ages by 20–30 per cent and demand a re-evaluation of other age estimation techniques calibrated using LDB ages.
The inflated radii of M dwarfs in the Pleiades Jackson, R J; Deliyannis, Constantine P; Jeffries, R D
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
05/2018, Volume:
476, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Abstract
Rotation periods obtained with the Kepler satellite have been combined with precise measurements of projected rotation velocity from the WIYN 3.5-m telescope to determine the distribution of ...projected radii for several hundred low-mass (0.1 ≤ M/M⊙ ≤ 0.8), fast-rotating members of the Pleiades cluster. A maximum likelihood modelling technique, that takes account of observational uncertainties, selection effects and censored data, and considers the effects of differential rotation and unresolved binarity, has been used to find that the average radius of these stars is 14 ± 2 per cent larger at a given luminosity than predicted by current evolutionary models of Dotter et al. and Baraffe et al. The same models are a reasonable match to the interferometric radii of older, magnetically inactive field M dwarfs, suggesting that the over-radius may be associated with the young, magnetically active nature of the Pleiades objects. No evidence is found for any change in this over-radius above and below the boundary marking the transition to full convection. Published evolutionary models that incorporate either the effects of magnetic inhibition of convection or the blocking of flux by dark star-spots do not individually explain the radius inflation, but a combination of the two effects might. The distribution of projected radii is consistent with the adopted hypothesis of a random spatial orientation of spin axes; strong alignments of the spin vectors into cones with an opening semi-angle <30° can be ruled out. Any plausible but weaker alignment would increase the inferred over-radius.
We investigate to what extent the spin axes of stars in young open clusters are aligned. Assuming that the spin vectors lie uniformly within a conical section, with an opening half-angle between λ= ...0° (perfectly aligned) and λ= 90° (completely random), we describe a Monte Carlo modelling technique that returns a probability density for this opening angle given a set of measured sin i values, where i is the unknown inclination angle between a stellar spin vector and the line of sight. Using simulations we demonstrate that although azimuthal information is lost, it is easily possible to discriminate between strongly aligned spin axes and a random distribution, providing that the mean spin-axis inclination lies outside the range 45°–75°. We apply the technique to G- and K-type stars in the young Pleiades and Alpha Per clusters. The sin i values are derived using rotation periods and projected equatorial velocities, combined with radii estimated from the cluster distances and a surface brightness/colour relationship. For both clusters we find no evidence for spin-axis alignment: λ= 90° is the most probable model and λ >40° with 90 per cent confidence. Assuming a random spin-axis alignment, we redetermine the distances to both clusters, obtaining 133 ± 7 pc for the Pleiades and 182 ± 11 pc for Alpha Per. If the assumption of random spin-axis alignment is discarded however, whilst the distance estimate remains unchanged, it has an additional +18−32 per cent uncertainty.
Abstract
We present a search for debris discs amongst M-dwarf members of nearby, young (5–150 Myr) moving groups (MGs) using infrared (IR) photometry, primarily from the Wide Infrared Survey Explorer ...(WISE). A catalogue of 100 MG M dwarfs that have suitable WISE data is compiled, and 19 of these are found to have significant IR excess emission at 22 μm. Our search is likely to be complete for discs where the ratio of flux from the disc to flux from the star fd/f* > 10−3. The spectral energy distributions are supplemented with Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) photometry and data at longer wavelengths, and fitted with simple disc models to characterize the IR excesses. There is a bimodal distribution – 12 targets have W1 − W4 > 3, corresponding to fd/f* > 0.02, and are likely to be gas-rich, primordial discs. The remaining seven targets have W1 − W4 < 1 (fd/f* ≲ 10−3) and include three objects with previously known or suspected debris discs and four new debris disc candidates that are all members of the Beta Pic MG. All of the IR excesses are identified in stars that are likely members of MGs with age <30 Myr. The detected debris disc frequency falls from 13 ± 5 per cent to <7 per cent (at 95 per cent confidence) for objects younger or older than 30 Myr, respectively. This provides evidence for the evolution of debris discs on this time-scale and does not support models where the maximum of debris disc emission occurs much later in lower mass stars.
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