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Finding benchmark brown dwarfs to probe the substellar initial mass function as a function of time
Using a simulated disc brown dwarf (BD) population, we find that newlarge area infrared surveys are expected to identify enough BDs coveringwide enough mass-age ranges to potentially measure the present day massfunction down to ~0.03Msolar, and the BD formation historyout to 10Gyr, at a level that will be capable of establishing if BDformation follows star formation. We suggest these capabilities are bestrealized by spectroscopic calibration of BD properties (Teff,g and [M/H]) which when combined with a measured luminosity and anevolutionary model can give BD mass and age relatively independent of BDatmosphere models. Such calibration requires an empirical understandingof how BD spectra are affected by variations in these properties, andthus the identification and study of `benchmark BDs' whose age andcomposition can be established independently.We identify the best sources of benchmark BDs as young open clustermembers, moving group members, and wide (>1000au) BD companions toboth subgiant stars and high-mass white dwarfs (WDs). To accuratelyasses the likely number of wide companion BDs available, we haveconstrained the wide L dwarf companion fraction using the 2-Micron AllSky Survey (2MASS), and find a companion fraction of2.7+0.7-0.5percent for separations of~1000-5000au. This equates to a BD companion fraction of34+9-6percent if one assumes an α~ 1companion mass function. Using this BD companion fraction, we simulatepopulations of wide BD binaries, and estimate that80+21-14 subgiant-BD binaries, and50+13-10 benchmark WD-BD binaries could beidentified using current and new facilities. The WD-BD binaries shouldall be identifiable using the Large Area Survey component of the UnitedKingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) Infrared Deep Sky Survey, combinedwith the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Discovery of the subgiant-BD binarieswill require a near-infrared imaging campaign around a large (~900)sample of Hipparcos subgiants. If identified, spectral studies of thesebenchmark BD populations could reveal the spectral sensitivities acrossthe Teff, g and [M/H] space probed by new surveys.
| The Nearest Young Moving Groups
The latest results in the research of forming planetary systems have ledseveral authors to compile a sample of candidates for searching forplanets in the vicinity of the Sun. Young stellar associations areindeed excellent laboratories for this study, but some of them are notclose enough to allow the detection of planets through adaptive opticstechniques. However, the existence of very close young moving groups cansolve this problem. Here we have compiled the members of the nearestyoung moving groups, as well as a list of new candidates from ourcatalog of late-type stars that are possible members of young stellarkinematic groups, studying their membership through spectroscopic andphotometric criteria.
| Angular Differential Imaging: A Powerful High-Contrast Imaging Technique
Angular differential imaging is a high-contrast imaging technique thatreduces quasistatic speckle noise and facilitates the detection ofnearby companions. A sequence of images is acquired with analtitude/azimuth telescope while the instrument field derotator isswitched off. This keeps the instrument and telescope optics aligned andallows the field of view to rotate with respect to the instrument. Foreach image, a reference point-spread function (PSF) is constructed fromother appropriately selected images of the same sequence and subtractedto remove quasistatic PSF structure. All residual images are thenrotated to align the field and are combined. Observed performances arereported for Gemini North data. It is shown that quasistatic PSF noisecan be reduced by a factor ~5 for each image subtraction. Thecombination of all residuals then provides an additional gain of theorder of the square root of the total number of acquired images. A totalspeckle noise attenuation of 20-50 is obtained for a 1 hr long observingsequence compared to a single 30 s exposure. A PSF noise attenuation of100 was achieved for a 2 hr long sequence of images of Vega, reaching a5 σ contrast of 20 mag for separations greater than 8". For a 30minute long sequence, ADI achieves signal-to-noise ratios 30 timesbetter than a classical observation technique. The ADI technique can beused with currently available instruments to search for~1MJup exoplanets with orbits of radii between 50 and 300 AUaround nearby young stars. The possibility of combining the techniquewith other high-contrast imaging methods is briefly discussed.Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which isoperated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Geminipartnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), theParticle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (United Kingdom), theNational Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the AustralianResearch Council (Australia), CNPq (Brazil), and CONICET (Argentina).
| Infrared 3-4 μm Spectroscopic Investigations of a Large Sample of Nearby Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
We present infrared L-band (3-4 μm) nuclear spectra of a large sampleof nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). ULIRGs classifiedoptically as non-Seyfert galaxies (LINERs, H II regions, andunclassified) are our main targets. Using the 3.3 μm polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission and absorption features at 3.1 μmdue to ice-covered dust and at 3.4 μm produced by bare carbonaceousdust, we search for signatures of powerful AGNs deeply buried alongvirtually all lines of sight. The 3.3 μm PAH emission, the signaturesof starbursts, is detected in all but two non-Seyfert ULIRGs, but theestimated starburst magnitudes can account for only a small fraction ofthe infrared luminosities. Three LINER ULIRGs show spectra typical ofalmost pure buried AGNs, namely, strong absorption features with verysmall equivalent width PAH emission. Besides these three sources, 14LINER and three H II ULIRGs' nuclei show strong absorption featureswhose absolute optical depths suggest an energy source more centrallyconcentrated than the surrounding dust, such as a buried AGN. In total,17 out of 27 (63%) LINER and 3 out of 13 (23%) H II ULIRGs' nuclei showsome degree of evidence for powerful buried AGNs, suggesting thatpowerful buried AGNs may be more common in LINER ULIRGs than in H IIULIRGs. The evidence of AGNs is found in non-Seyfert ULIRGs with bothwarm and cool far-infrared colors. These spectra are compared with thoseof 15 ULIRGs' nuclei with optical Seyfert signatures taken forcomparison. The overall spectral properties suggest that the totalamount of dust around buried AGNs in non-Seyfert ULIRGs issystematically larger than that around AGNs in Seyfert 2 ULIRGs. Weargue that the optical (non)detectability of Seyfert signatures inULIRGs is highly dependent on how deeply buried the AGNs are, and thatit is essential to properly evaluate the energetic importance of buriedAGNs in non-Seyfert ULIRGs.
| Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars (SPOCS). I. 1040 F, G, and K Dwarfs from Keck, Lick, and AAT Planet Search Programs
We present a uniform catalog of stellar properties for 1040 nearby F, G,and K stars that have been observed by the Keck, Lick, and AAT planetsearch programs. Fitting observed echelle spectra with synthetic spectrayielded effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, projectedrotational velocity, and abundances of the elements Na, Si, Ti, Fe, andNi, for every star in the catalog. Combining V-band photometry andHipparcos parallaxes with a bolometric correction based on thespectroscopic results yielded stellar luminosity, radius, and mass.Interpolating Yonsei-Yale isochrones to the luminosity, effectivetemperature, metallicity, and α-element enhancement of each staryielded a theoretical mass, radius, gravity, and age range for moststars in the catalog. Automated tools provide uniform results and makeanalysis of such a large sample practical. Our analysis method differsfrom traditional abundance analyses in that we fit the observed spectrumdirectly, rather than trying to match equivalent widths, and wedetermine effective temperature and surface gravity from the spectrumitself, rather than adopting values based on measured photometry orparallax. As part of our analysis, we determined a new relationshipbetween macroturbulence and effective temperature on the main sequence.Detailed error analysis revealed small systematic offsets with respectto the Sun and spurious abundance trends as a function of effectivetemperature that would be inobvious in smaller samples. We attempted toremove these errors by applying empirical corrections, achieving aprecision per spectrum of 44 K in effective temperature, 0.03 dex inmetallicity, 0.06 dex in the logarithm of gravity, and 0.5 kms-1 in projected rotational velocity. Comparisons withprevious studies show only small discrepancies. Our spectroscopicallydetermined masses have a median fractional precision of 15%, but theyare systematically 10% higher than masses obtained by interpolatingisochrones. Our spectroscopic radii have a median fractional precisionof 3%. Our ages from isochrones have a precision that variesdramatically with location in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. We planto extend the catalog by applying our automated analysis technique toother large stellar samples.
| Stellar Lyα Emission Lines in the Hubble Space Telescope Archive: Intrinsic Line Fluxes and Absorption from the Heliosphere and Astrospheres
We search the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archive for previouslyunanalyzed observations of stellar H I Lyα emission lines, ourprimary purpose being to look for new detections of Lyα absorptionfrom the outer heliosphere and to also search for analogous absorptionfrom the astrospheres surrounding the observed stars. The astrosphericabsorption is of particular interest because it can be used to studysolar-like stellar winds that are otherwise undetectable. We find andanalyze 33 HST Lyα spectra in the archive. All the spectra weretaken with the E140M grating of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph(STIS) instrument on board HST. The HST STIS spectra yield four newdetections of heliospheric absorption (70 Oph, ξ Boo, 61 Vir, and HD165185) and seven new detections of astrospheric absorption (EV Lac, 70Oph, ξ Boo, 61 Vir, δ Eri, HD 128987, and DK UMa), doubling theprevious number of heliospheric and astrospheric detections. Whencombined with previous results, 10 of 17 lines of sight within 10 pcyield detections of astrospheric absorption. This high detectionfraction implies that most of the ISM within 10 pc must be at leastpartially neutral, since the presence of H I within the ISM surroundingthe observed star is necessary for an astrospheric detection. Incontrast, the detection percentage is only 9.7% (3 out of 31) for starsbeyond 10 pc. Our Lyα analyses provide measurements of ISM H I andD I column densities for all 33 lines of sight, and we discuss someimplications of these results. Finally, we measure chromosphericLyα fluxes from the observed stars. We use these fluxes todetermine how Lyα flux correlates with coronal X-ray andchromospheric Mg II emission, and we also study how Lyα emissiondepends on stellar rotation.Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtainedat the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASAcontract NAS5-26555.
| The Planet-Metallicity Correlation
We have recently carried out spectral synthesis modeling to determineTeff, logg, vsini, and [Fe/H] for 1040 FGK-type stars on theKeck, Lick, and Anglo-Australian Telescope planet search programs. Thisis the first time that a single, uniform spectroscopic analysis has beenmade for every star on a large Doppler planet search survey. We identifya subset of 850 stars that have Doppler observations sufficient todetect uniformly all planets with radial velocity semiamplitudes K>30m s-1 and orbital periods shorter than 4 yr. From this subsetof stars, we determine that fewer than 3% of stars with-0.5<[Fe/H]<0.0 have Doppler-detected planets. Above solarmetallicity, there is a smooth and rapid rise in the fraction of starswith planets. At [Fe/H]>+0.3 dex, 25% of observed stars have detectedgas giant planets. A power-law fit to these data relates the formationprobability for gas giant planets to the square of the number of metalatoms. High stellar metallicity also appears to be correlated with thepresence of multiple-planet systems and with the total detected planetmass. This data set was examined to better understand the origin of highmetallicity in stars with planets. None of the expected fossilsignatures of accretion are observed in stars with planets relative tothe general sample: (1) metallicity does not appear to increase as themass of the convective envelopes decreases, (2) subgiants with planetsdo not show dilution of metallicity, (3) no abundance variations for Na,Si, Ti, or Ni are found as a function of condensation temperature, and(4) no correlations between metallicity and orbital period oreccentricity could be identified. We conclude that stars with extrasolarplanets do not have an accretion signature that distinguishes them fromother stars; more likely, they are simply born in higher metallicitymolecular clouds.Based on observations obtained at Lick and Keck Observatories, operatedby the University of California, and the Anglo-Australian Observatories.
| Multiplicity among Widely Separated Brown Dwarf Companions to Nearby Stars: Gliese 337CD
We present Lick Natural Guide Star Adaptive Optics observations of theL8 brown dwarf Gl 337C, which is resolved for the first time into twoclosely separated (0.53"+/-0.03"), nearly equal magnitude componentswith a Ks flux ratio of 0.93+/-0.10. Companionship isinferred from the absence of a 3.6" offset source in Two Micron All SkySurvey or photographic plate images, implying that the observedsecondary component is a comoving late-type dwarf. With a projectedseparation of 11 AU and nearly equal magnitude components, Gl 337CD hasproperties similar to those of other known companion and fieldsubstellar binaries. Its long orbital period (estimated to be ~140-180yr) inhibits short-term astrometric mass measurements, but the Gl 337CDsystem is ideal for studying the L-T transition at a fixed age andmetallicity. From a compilation of all known widely separated (>~100AU) stellar-brown dwarf multiple systems, we find evidence that thebinary fraction of brown dwarfs in these systems is notably higher thanthat of field brown dwarfs, 45+15-13% versus18+7-4% for analogous samples. We speculate onpossible reasons for this difference, including the possibility thatdynamic (ejection) interactions that may form such wide pairspreferentially retain binary secondaries because of their greatercombined mass and/or ability to absorb angular momentum.
| Iron Abundance Determination for the Solar-Like Stars HR4345 and HR6573
Using the BLACKWELL software package written by R.O. Gray, the ironabundance of the solar-like stars HR 4345 and HR 6573 has beendetermined. The method is based on determination of the minimumdispersion (or the region of least confusion) of the iron abundanceversus microturbulent velocity functions for some selected spectrallines of neutral iron. The input data used by BLACKWELL are the observedequivalent widths of several spectral lines of neutral iron. They areobtained from spectra observed at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence,France, with the 1.52-m telescope and Aurelie spectrograph. Reduction ofthe raw spectra and the measurement of the equivalent widths of spectrallines are carried out using IRAF and SPE software packages. The measuredvalues of iron abundances of HR 4345 and HR 6573 are 7.72 +- 0.03 and7.63 +- 0.05 respectively.
| A survey of 10-μm silicate emission from dust around young sun-like stars
We obtained low resolution (R=100) mid-infrared (8-13 μm wavelengths)spectra of 8 nearby young main sequence stars with the Keck 1 telescopeand Long-Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS) to search for 10 μm silicate(Si-O stretch) emission from circumstellar dust. No stars exhibitedreadily apparent emission: Spectra were then analyzed by least-squaresfitting of a template based on a spectrum of Comet Hale-Bopp. Using thistechnique, we were able to constrain the level of silicate emission to athreshold 10 times below what was previously possible from space. Wefound one star, HD 17925, with a spectrum statistically differentfrom its calibrator and consistent with a silicate emission peak of 7%of the photosphere at a wavelength of 10 μm. Excess emission at 60μm from this star has already been reported.
| Nearby stars of the Galactic disk and halo. III.
High-resolution spectroscopic observations of about 150 nearby stars orstar systems are presented and discussed. The study of these and another100 objects of the previous papers of this series implies that theGalaxy became reality 13 or 14 Gyr ago with the implementation of amassive, rotationally-supported population of thick-disk stars. The veryhigh star formation rate in that phase gave rise to a rapid metalenrichment and an expulsion of gas in supernovae-driven Galactic winds,but was followed by a star formation gap for no less than three billionyears at the Sun's galactocentric distance. In a second phase, then, thethin disk - our ``familiar Milky Way'' - came on stage. Nowadays ittraces the bright side of the Galaxy, but it is also embedded in a hugecoffin of dead thick-disk stars that account for a large amount ofbaryonic dark matter. As opposed to this, cold-dark-matter-dominatedcosmologies that suggest a more gradual hierarchical buildup throughmergers of minor structures, though popular, are a poor description forthe Milky Way Galaxy - and by inference many other spirals as well - if,as the sample implies, the fossil records of its long-lived stars do notstick to this paradigm. Apart from this general picture that emergeswith reference to the entire sample stars, a good deal of the presentwork is however also concerned with detailed discussions of manyindividual objects. Among the most interesting we mention the bluestraggler or merger candidates HD 165401 and HD 137763/HD 137778, thelikely accretion of a giant planet or brown dwarf on 59 Vir in itsrecent history, and HD 63433 that proves to be a young solar analog at\tau200 Myr. Likewise, the secondary to HR 4867, formerly suspectednon-single from the Hipparcos astrometry, is directly detectable in thehigh-resolution spectroscopic tracings, whereas the visual binary \chiCet is instead at least triple, and presumably even quadruple. Withrespect to the nearby young stars a complete account of the Ursa MajorAssociation is presented, and we provide as well plain evidence foranother, the ``Hercules-Lyra Association'', the likely existence ofwhich was only realized in recent years. On account of its rotation,chemistry, and age we do confirm that the Sun is very typical among itsG-type neighbors; as to its kinematics, it appears however not unlikelythat the Sun's known low peculiar space velocity could indeed be thecause for the weak paleontological record of mass extinctions and majorimpact events on our parent planet during the most recent Galactic planepassage of the solar system. Although the significance of thiscorrelation certainly remains a matter of debate for years to come, wepoint in this context to the principal importance of the thick disk fora complete census with respect to the local surface and volumedensities. Other important effects that can be ascribed to this darkstellar population comprise (i) the observed plateau in the shape of theluminosity function of the local FGK stars, (ii) a small thoughsystematic effect on the basic solar motion, (iii) a reassessment of theterm ``asymmetrical drift velocity'' for the remainder (i.e. the thindisk) of the stellar objects, (iv) its ability to account for the bulkof the recently discovered high-velocity blue white dwarfs, (v) itsmajor contribution to the Sun's 220 km s-1 rotationalvelocity around the Galactic center, and (vi) the significant flatteningthat it imposes on the Milky Way's rotation curve. Finally we note ahigh multiplicity fraction in the small but volume-complete local sampleof stars of this ancient population. This in turn is highly suggestivefor a star formation scenario wherein the few existing single stellarobjects might only arise from either late mergers or the dynamicalejection of former triple or higher level star systems.
| The Brown Dwarf Desert at 75-1200 AU
We present results of a comprehensive infrared coronagraphic search forsubstellar companions to nearby stars. The research consisted of (1) a178-star survey at Steward and Lick observatories, with opticalfollow-up from Keck Observatory, capable of detecting companions withmasses greater than 30 MJ, and semimajor axes between about140 to 1200 AU; (2) a 102-star survey using the Keck Telescope, capableof detecting extrasolar brown dwarfs and planets typically more massivethan 10 MJ, with semimajor axes between about 75 and 300 AU.Only one brown dwarf companion was detected, and no planets. Thefrequency of brown dwarf companions to G, K, and M stars orbitingbetween 75 and 300 AU is measured to be 1%+/-1%, the most precisemeasurement of this quantity to date. The frequency of massive (greaterthan 30 MJ) brown dwarf companions at 120-1200 AU is found tobe f=0.7%+/-0.7%. The frequency of giant planet companions with massesbetween 5 and 10 MJ orbiting between 75 and 300 AU ismeasured here for the first time to be no more than ~3%. Together withother surveys that encompass a wide range of orbital separations, theseresults imply that substellar objects with masses between 12 and 75MJ form only rarely as companions to stars. Theories of starformation that could explain these data are only now beginning toemerge.
| Chemical enrichment and star formation in the Milky Way disk. III. Chemodynamical constraints
In this paper, we investigate some chemokinematical properties of theMilky Way disk, by using a sample composed by 424 late-type dwarfs. Weshow that the velocity dispersion of a stellar group correlates with theage of this group, according to a law proportional to t0.26,where t is the age of the stellar group. The temporal evolution of thevertex deviation is considered in detail. It is shown that the vertexdeviation does not seem to depend strongly on the age of the stellargroup. Previous studies in the literature seem to not have found it dueto the use of statistical ages for stellar groups, rather thanindividual ages. The possibility to use the orbital parameters of a starto derive information about its birthplace is investigated, and we showthat the mean galactocentric radius is likely to be the most reliablestellar birthplace indicator. However, this information cannot bepresently used to derive radial evolutionary constraints, due to anintrinsic bias present in all samples constructed from nearby stars. Anextensive discussion of the secular and stochastic heating mechanismscommonly invoked to explain the age-velocity dispersion relation ispresented. We suggest that the age-velocity dispersion relation couldreflect the gradual decrease in the turbulent velocity dispersion fromwhich disk stars form, a suggestion originally made by Tinsley &Larson (\cite{tinsley}, ApJ, 221, 554) and supported by several morerecent disk evolution calculations. A test to distinguish between thetwo types of models using high-redshift galaxies is proposed.Full Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/423/517
| The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood. Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of 14 000 F and G dwarfs
We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, andkinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sampleand, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcosparallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities,complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-qualityvelocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures andmetallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. Theremaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. Amajor effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone agesfor all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has beengiven to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and errorestimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effectsand introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agreewell with those by Edvardsson et al. (\cite{edv93}), despite severalastrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate,however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause thedistribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of thetrue age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations ofthe Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presentedhere, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and theage-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of theSolar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor Gdwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the ``G dwarfproblem''), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk,the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since itsformation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, andthe continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiencyconsistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giantmolecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the Vcomponent of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity,corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather thanclassical moving groups, and may complicate the identification ofthick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of thisrich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteriafor the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Based on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, LaSilla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire deHaute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/418/989
| Some anomalies in the occurrence of debris discs around main-sequence A and G stars
Debris discs consist of large dust grains that are generated bycollisions of comets or asteroids around main-sequence stars, and thequantity and distribution of debris may be used to detect the presenceof perturbing planets akin to Neptune. We use stellar and disc surveysto compare the material seen around A- and G-type main-sequence stars.Debris is detected much more commonly towards A stars, even when acomparison is made only with G stars of comparable age. Detection ratesare consistent with disc durations of ~0.5 Gyr, which may occur at anytime during the main sequence. The higher detection rate for A stars canresult from this duration being a larger fraction of the main-sequencelifetime, possibly boosted by a globally slightly larger disc mass thanfor the G-type counterparts. The disc mass range at any given age is afactor of at least ~100 and any systematic decline with time is slow,with a power law estimated to not be steeper than t-1/2.Comparison with models shows that dust can be expected as late as a fewGyr when perturbing planetesimals form slowly at large orbital radii.Currently, the Solar system has little dust because the radius of theKuiper Belt is small and hence the time-scale to produce planetesimalswas less than 1 Gyr. However, the apparently constant duration of ~0.5Gyr when dust is visible is not predicted by the models.
| Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised Catalog
We complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs.
| Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 Parsecs: The Northern Sample. I.
We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars(NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program, toobtain spectra, spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physicalparameters for the 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40pc of the Sun. In this paper, we report on the results of this projectfor the first 664 stars in the northern hemisphere. These resultsinclude precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physical parameters(including the effective temperature, surface gravity, and overallmetallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of ourprogram stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper arealso available on the project's Web site.
| Multiplicity of Nearby Free-Floating Ultracool Dwarfs: A Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Search for Companions
We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2(WFPC2) observations of a sample of 134 ultracool objects (spectraltypes later than M7) coming from the Deep Near Infrared Survey (DENIS),Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS),with distances estimated to range from 7 to 105 pc. Fifteen newultracool binary candidates are reported here. Eleven known binaries areconfirmed, and orbital motion is detected in some of them. We estimatethat the closest binary systems in this sample have periods between 5and 20 yr, and thus dynamical masses will be derived in the near future.For the calculation of binary frequency, we restrict ourselves tosystems with distances less than 20 pc. After correction of the binariesbias, we find a ratio of visual binaries (at the HST limit of detection)of around 10%, and that ~15% of the 26 objects within 20 pc are binarysystems with separations between 1 and 8 AU. The observed frequency ofultracool binaries is similar to that of binaries with G-type primariesin the separation range from 2.1 to 140 AU. There is also a cleardeficit of ultracool binaries with separations greater than 15 AU, and apossible tendency for the binaries to have mass ratios near unity. Mostsystems have indeed visual and near-infrared brightness ratios between 1and 0.3. We discuss our results in the framework of current scenariosfor the formation and evolution of free-floating brown dwarfs.
| The Hamburg/RASS Catalogue of optical identifications. Northern high-galactic latitude ROSAT Bright Source Catalogue X-ray sources
We present the Hamburg/RASS Catalogue (HRC) of optical identificationsof X-ray sources at high-galactic latitude. The HRC includes all X-raysources from the ROSAT Bright Source Catalogue (RASS-BSC) with galacticlatitude |b| >=30degr and declination delta >=0degr . In thispart of the sky covering ~ 10 000 deg2 the RASS-BSC contains5341 X-ray sources. For the optical identification we used blue Schmidtprism and direct plates taken for the northern hemisphere Hamburg QuasarSurvey (HQS) which are now available in digitized form. The limitingmagnitudes are 18.5 and 20, respectively. For 82% of the selectedRASS-BSC an identification could be given. For the rest either nocounterpart was visible in the error circle or a plausibleidentification was not possible. With ~ 42% AGN represent the largestgroup of X-ray emitters, ~ 31% have a stellar counterpart, whereasgalaxies and cluster of galaxies comprise only ~ 4% and ~ 5%,respectively. In ~ 3% of the RASS-BSC sources no object was visible onour blue direct plates within 40\arcsec around the X-ray sourceposition. The catalogue is used as a source for the selection of(nearly) complete samples of the various classes of X-ray emitters.
| Multiplicity among solar-type stars. III. Statistical properties of the F7-K binaries with periods up to 10 years
Two CORAVEL radial velocity surveys - one among stars in the solarneighbourhood, the other in the Pleiades and in Praesepe - are merged toderive the statistical properties of main-sequence binaries withspectral types F7 to K and with periods up to 10 years. A sample of 89spectroscopic orbits was finally obtained. Among them, 52 relate to afree-of-bias selection of 405 stars (240 field stars and 165 clusterstars). The statistics corrected for selection effects yield thefollowing results: (1) No discrepancy is found between the binariesamong field stars and the binaries in open cluster. The distributions ofmass ratios, of periods, the period-eccentricity diagram and the binaryfrequencies are all within the same error intervals. (2) Thedistribution of mass ratios presents two maxima: a broad peak from q ~0.2 to q ~ 0.7, and a sharp peak for q > 0.8 (twins). Both arepresent among the early-type as well as among the late-type part of thesample, indicating a scale-free formation process. The peak for q >0.8 gradually decreases when long-period binaries are considered.Whatever their periods, the twins have eccentricities significantlylower than the other binaries, confirming a difference in the formationprocesses. Twins could be generated by in situ formation followed byaccretion from a gaseous envelope, whereas binaries with intermediatemass ratios could be formed at wide separations, but they are madecloser by migration led by interactions with a circumbinary disk. (3)The frequency of binaries with P<10 years is about 14%. (4) About0.3% of binaries are expected to appear as false positives in a planetsearch. Therefore, the frequency of planetary systems among stars ispresently 7+4-2%. The extension of thedistribution of mass ratios in the planetary range would result in avery sharp and very high peak, well separated from the binary stars withlow mass ratios. Based on photoelectric radial-velocity measurementscollected at Haute-Provence observatory and on observations made withthe ESA Hipparcos astrometry satellite.
| The stellar activity-rotation relationship revisited: Dependence of saturated and non-saturated X-ray emission regimes on stellar mass for late-type dwarfs
We present the results of a new study on the relationship betweencoronal X-ray emission and stellar rotation in late-type main-sequencestars. We have selected a sample of 259 dwarfs in the B-V range 0.5-2.0,including 110 field stars and 149 members of the Pleiades, Hyades, alphaPersei, IC 2602 and IC 2391 open clusters. All the stars have beenobserved with ROSAT, and most of them have photometrically-measuredrotation periods available. Our results confirm that two emissionregimes exist, one in which the rotation period is a good predictor ofthe total X-ray luminosity, and the other in which a constant saturatedX-ray to bolometric luminosity ratio is attained; we present aquantitative estimate of the critical rotation periods below which starsof different masses (or spectral types) enter the saturated regime. Inthis work we have also empirically derived a characteristic time scale,taue , which we have used to investigate the relationshipbetween the X-ray emission level and an X-ray-based Rossby numberRe = Prot/taue: we show that ourempirical time scale taue resembles the theoreticalconvective turnover time for 0.4 <~ M/Msun <~ 1.2, butit also has the same functional dependence on B-V asLbol-1/2 in the color range 0.5 <~ B-V <~1.5. Our results imply that - for non-saturated coronae - theLx - Prot relation is equivalent to theLx/Lbol vs. Re relation. Tables 1 and 2are only available in electronic form at \ http://www.edpsciences.org
| Stellar atmospheres of nearby young solar analogs
High-resolution (/R~90,000) spectra of 34 nearby, young Sun-like starswere analyzed using stellar atmosphere models to estimate effectivephotosphere temperatures, surface gravities, and the abundance ofcertain heavy elements (C, Na, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Ti, Fe, and Ni). Theeffective temperatures derived from spectroscopy were compared withtemperatures estimated using optical and near-infrared photometry. Inmany cases the spectroscopic temperatures are significantly higher thanthe photometric estimates, possibly as a result of spottedness orchromospheric activity on these active stars. Values of effectivetemperature, surface gravity, and luminosity were compared totheoretical stellar evolution tracks and the evolutionary status ofthese objects was evaluated. The correlation between heavy elementabundance patterns and kinematics (space motion) was also examined. Twonearby stars that were tentatively assigned to the Hyades cluster basedon kinematics have Fe abundances that are also consistent withmembership in that cluster. Members of the Ursa Major kinematic groupexhibit a range of [Fe/H] values but have monotonic [Si/Fe]. These twoobservations suggest that heterogeneous incorporation of the heavyelements into protostars is creating the variation in metallicity. LocalAssociation members have a distinctly different Si/Fe that probablyreflects their distinct origin and chemical inheritance.
| Radial Velocities for 889 Late-Type Stars
We report radial velocities for 844 FGKM-type main-sequence and subgiantstars and 45 K giants, most of which had either low-precision velocitymeasurements or none at all. These velocities differ from the standardstars of Udry et al. by 0.035 km s-1 (rms) for the 26 FGKstandard stars in common. The zero point of our velocities differs fromthat of Udry et al.: =+0.053km s-1. Thus, these new velocities agree with the best knownstandard stars both in precision and zero point, to well within 0.1 kms-1. Nonetheless, both these velocities and the standardssuffer from three sources of systematic error, namely, convectiveblueshift, gravitational redshift, and spectral type mismatch of thereference spectrum. These systematic errors are here forced to be zerofor G2 V stars by using the Sun as reference, with Vesta and day sky asproxies. But for spectral types departing from solar, the systematicerrors reach 0.3 km s-1 in the F and K stars and 0.4 kms-1 in M dwarfs. Multiple spectra were obtained for all 889stars during 4 years, and 782 of them exhibit velocity scatter less than0.1 km s-1. These stars may serve as radial velocitystandards if they remain constant in velocity. We found 11 newspectroscopic binaries and report orbital parameters for them. Based onobservations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operatedjointly by the University of California and the California Institute ofTechnology, and on observations obtained at the Lick Observatory, whichis operated by the University of California.
| Astrometry and Photometry for Cool Dwarfs and Brown Dwarfs
Trigonometric parallax determinations are presented for 28 late-typedwarfs and brown dwarfs, including eight M dwarfs with spectral typesbetween M7 and M9.5, 17 L dwarfs with spectral types between L0 and L8,and three T dwarfs. Broadband photometry at CCD wavelengths (VRIz*)and/or near-IR wavelengths (JHK) is presented for these objects and for24 additional late-type dwarfs. Supplemented with astrometry andphotometry from the literature, including 10 L and two T dwarfs withparallaxes established by association with bright, usually Hipparcosprimaries, this material forms the basis for studying variouscolor-color and color-absolute magnitude relations. The I-J color is agood predictor of absolute magnitude for late M and L dwarfs.MJ becomes monotonically fainter with I-J color and withspectral type through late L dwarfs, then brightens for early T dwarfs.The combination of z*JK colors alone can be used to classify late M,early L, and T dwarfs accurately, as well as to predict their absolutemagnitudes, but is less effective at untangling the scatter among mid-and late L dwarfs. The mean tangential velocity of these objects isfound to be slightly less than that for dM stars in the solarneighborhood, consistent with a sample with a mean age of several Gyr.Using colors to estimate bolometric corrections and models to estimatestellar radii, effective temperatures are derived. The latest L dwarfsare found to have Teff~1360 K.
| Late-type members of young stellar kinematic groups - I. Single stars
This is the first paper of a series aimed at studying the properties oflate-type members of young stellar kinematic groups. We concentrate ourstudy on classical young moving groups such as the Local Association(Pleiades moving group, 20-150Myr), IC 2391 supercluster (35Myr), UrsaMajor group (Sirius supercluster, 300Myr), and Hyades supercluster(600Myr), as well as on recently identified groups such as the Castormoving group (200Myr). In this paper we compile a preliminary list ofsingle late-type possible members of some of these young stellarkinematic groups. Stars are selected from previously established membersof stellar kinematic groups based on photometric and kinematicproperties as well as from candidates based on other criteria such astheir level of chromospheric activity, rotation rate and lithiumabundance. Precise measurements of proper motions and parallaxes takenfrom the Hipparcos Catalogue, as well as from the Tycho-2 Catalogue, andpublished radial velocity measurements are used to calculate theGalactic space motions (U, V, W) and to apply Eggen's kinematic criteriain order to determine the membership of the selected stars to thedifferent groups. Additional criteria using age-dating methods forlate-type stars will be applied in forthcoming papers of this series. Afurther study of the list of stars compiled here could lead to a betterunderstanding of the chromospheric activity and their age evolution, aswell as of the star formation history in the solar neighbourhood. Inaddition, these stars are also potential search targets for directimaging detection of substellar companions.
| A new look at the relationship between activity, dynamo number and Rossby number in late-type stars
The correlation between stellar activity, as measured by the indicatorΔRHK, and the Rossby number Ro in late-type stars isrevisited in light of recent developments in solar dynamo theory.Different stellar interior models, based on both mixing-length theoryand the full spectrum of turbulence, are used in order to see to whatextent the correlation of activity with Rossby number is modeldependent, or otherwise can be considered universal. Although we findsome modest model dependence, we find that the correlation of activitywith Rossby number is significantly better than with rotation periodalone for all the models we consider. Dynamo theory suggests thatactivity should scale with the dynamo number. A current model of thesolar dynamo, the so-called interface dynamo, proposes that theamplification of the toroidal magnetic field by differential rotation(the ω-effect) and the production of the poloidal magnetic fieldfrom toroidal by helical turbulence (the α-effect) take place indifferent, adjacent layers near the base of the convection zone. A newscale analysis based on the interface dynamo shows that the appropriatedynamo number does not depend on the Rossby number alone, but alsodepends on an additional dimensionless factor related to thedifferential rotation. This leads to a new interpretation of thecorrelation between activity and Rossby number, which in turn leads tosome conclusions about the magnitude of differential rotation in thedynamo layers of late-type main-sequence stars.
| A revision of the solar neighbourhood metallicity distribution
We present a revised metallicity distribution of dwarfs in the solarneighbourhood. This distribution is centred on solar metallicity. Weshow that previous metallicity distributions, selected on the basis ofspectral type, are biased against stars with solar metallicity orhigher. A selection of G-dwarf stars is inherently biased againstmetal-rich stars and is not representative of the solar neighbourhoodmetallicity distribution. Using a sample selected on colour, we obtain adistribution where approximately half the stars in the solarneighbourhood have metallicities higher than [Fe/H]=0. The percentage ofmid-metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<-0.5) is approximately 4 per cent, inagreement with present estimates of the thick disc. In order to have ametallicity distribution comparable to chemical evolution modelpredictions, we convert the star fraction to mass fraction, and showthat another bias against metal-rich stars affects dwarf metallicitydistributions, due to the colour (or spectral type) limits of thesamples. Reconsidering the corrections resulting from the increasingthickness of the stellar disc with age, we show that the simpleclosed-box model with no instantaneous recycling approximation gives areasonable fit to the observed distribution. Comparisons with theage-metallicity relation and abundance ratios suggest that the simpleclosed-box model may be a viable model of the chemical evolution of theGalaxy at solar radius.
| Brown Dwarf Companions to G-Type Stars. I. Gliese 417B and Gliese 584C
We present astrometric and spectroscopic observations confirming thattwo nearby G dwarf systems (Gliese 417 =BD+36°2162 and Gliese584AB=η CrB AB) have a widely separated, L dwarf, substellarcompanion. Using age estimates of the G dwarf primaries, we estimatemasses for these L dwarfs from theoretical evolutionary tracks. For theL4.5 dwarf Gl 417B we estimate an age of 0.08-0.3 Gyr and a mass of0.035+/-0.015 Msolar. For the L8 dwarf Gl 584C we estimate anage of 1.0-2.5 Gyr and a mass of 0.060+/-0.015 Msolar. Thislatter object also shows evidence of spectrum variability, which may bedue to surface inhomogeneities rotating into and out of view. These newcompanions are also compared to six other L dwarf and T dwarf companionspreviously recognized. For the L dwarf companions, ages implied by thepresence or absence of lithium are consistent with ages inferred fromthe primaries alone. Portions of the data presented herein were obtainedat the W. M. Keck Observatory which is operated as a scientificpartnership among the California Institute of Technology, the Universityof California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support ofthe W. M. Keck Foundation.
| A Search for L Dwarf Binary Systems
We present analysis of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) planetary cameraimages of 20 L dwarfs identified in the course of the Two Micron All SkySurvey. Four of the targets, 2MASSW J0746425+200032, 2MASSsJ0850359+105716, 2MASSW J0920122+351742, and 2MASSW J1146345+223053,have faint red companions at separations between 0.07" and 0.29"(1.6-7.6 AU). Ground-based infrared imaging confirms the last as acommon proper motion companion. The surface density of backgroundsources with comparable colors is extremely low, and we identify allfour as physical binaries. In three cases, the bolometric magnitudes ofthe components differ by less than 0.3 mag. Since the cooling rate forbrown dwarfs is a strong function of mass, similarity in luminositiesimplies comparable masses. The faint component in the 2M0850 system,however, is over 1.3 mag fainter than the primary in the I band and ~0.8mag fainter in Mbol. Indeed, 2M0850B is ~0.8 mag fainter in Ithan the lowest luminosity L dwarf currently known, while the absolutemagnitude we deduce at J is almost identical with MJ for Gl229B. We discuss the implications of these results for the temperaturescale in the L/T transition region. 2M0850 is known to exhibit 6708Å Li I absorption, indicating that the primary has a mass lessthan 0.06 Msolar. Theoretical models predict that themagnitude difference implies a mass ratio of ~0.75. The apparent binaryfraction of the current sample, 20%, is comparable to the results ofprevious surveys of late-type M dwarfs in the field and in the Hyades.However, the mean separation of the L dwarf binaries in the currentsample is smaller than the M dwarf value by a factor of 2, and only onesystem would be detected at the distance of the Hyades. We discuss thelikely binary frequency among L dwarfs in light of these new data.
| Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521
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Osservazione e dati astrometrici
| Costellazione: | Orsa Maggiore |
| Ascensione retta: | 11h12m32.20s |
| Declinazione: | +35°48'49.0" |
| Magnitudine apparente: | 6.41 |
| Distanza: | 21.72 parsec |
| Moto proprio RA: | -248.6 |
| Moto proprio Dec: | -151.9 |
| B-T magnitude: | 7.157 |
| V-T magnitude: | 6.476 |
Cataloghi e designazioni:
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