Precision photometric monitoring of very low mass Sigma Orionis cluster members: variability and rotation at a few Myr

We present high-precision photometry on 107 variable low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the ~3 Myr Sigma Orionis open cluster. We have carried out I-band photometric monitoring within two fields, encompassing 153 confirmed or candidate members of the low-mass cluster population, from 0.02 to 0.5 M_\odot. We are sensitive to brightness changes on time scales from 10 minutes to two weeks with amplitudes as low as 0.004 magnitudes, and find variability on these time scales in nearly 70% of cluster members. We identify both periodic and aperiodic modes of variability, as well as semi-periodic rapid fading events that are not accounted for by the standard explanations of rotational modulation of surface features or accretion. We have incorporated both optical and infrared color data to uncover trends in variability with mass and circumstellar disks. While the data confirm that the lowest-mass objects (M<0.2M_\odot) rotate more rapidly than the 0.2-0.5 M_\odot members, they do not support a direct connection between rotation rate and the presence of a disk. Finally, we speculate on the origin of irregular variability in cluster members with no evidence for disks or accretion.Comment: 40 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in ApJS. Link to electronic figures correcte

The Many-faceted Light Curves of Young Disk-bearing Stars in Upper Sco –– Oph Observed by K2 Campaign 2

The K2 Mission has photometrically monitored thousands of stars at high precision and cadence in a series of ~80-day campaigns focused on sections of the ecliptic plane. During its second campaign, K2 targeted over 1000 young stellar objects (YSOs) in the ~1–3 Myr ρ Ophiuchus and 5–10 Myr Upper Scorpius regions. From this set, we have carefully vetted photometry from WISE and Spitzer to identify those YSOs with infrared excess indicative of primordial circumstellar disks. We present here the resulting comprehensive sample of 288 young disk-bearing stars from B through M spectral types and analysis of their associated K2 light curves. Using statistics of periodicity and symmetry, we categorize each light curve into eight different variability classes, notably including "dippers" (fading events), "bursters" (brightening events), stochastic, and quasi-periodic types. Nearly all (96%) of disk-bearing YSOs are identified as variable at 30-minute cadence with the sub-1% precision of K2. Combining our variability classifications with (circum)stellar properties, we find that the bursters, stochastic sources, and the largest amplitude quasi-periodic stars have larger infrared colors, and hence stronger circumstellar disks. They also tend to have larger Hα equivalent widths, indicative of higher accretion rates. The dippers, on the other hand, cluster toward moderate infrared colors and low Hα. Using resolved disk observations, we further find that the latter favor high inclinations, except for a few notable exceptions with close to face-on disks. These observations support the idea that YSO time-domain properties are dependent on several factors, including accretion rate and view angle

A Search for Pulsation in Very Low-mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs

Brown dwarfs and very low-mass stars constitute a crucial link between the intertwined processes of star formation and planet formation. To date, however, observational methods to uncover their formation mechanism or determine important properties such as mass and age have been lacking. Pulsation powered by deuterium burning in brown dwarfs and very low-mass stars is a newly suggested phenomenon that offers unprecedented opportunities to probe the interiors and evolution of these objects. We report on a photometric campaign to search for low-amplitude pulsations among young star-cluster members using a number of telescopes

The Rotational Evolution of Young, Binary M Dwarfs

We have analysed K2 light curves for more than 3,000 low mass stars in the $\sim$8 Myr old Upper Sco association, the $\sim$125 Myr age Pleiades open cluster and the $\sim$700 Myr old Hyades and Praesepe open clusters to determine stellar rotation rates. Many of these K2 targets show two distinct periods, and for the lowest mass stars in these clusters virtually all of these systems with two periods are photometric binaries. The most likely explanation is that we are detecting the rotation periods for both components of these binaries. We explore the evolution of the rotation rate in both components of photometric binaries relative to one another and to non-photometric binary stars. In Upper Sco and the Pleiades, these low mass binary stars have periods that are much shorter on average and much closer to each other than would be true if drawn at random from the M dwarf single stars. In Upper Sco, this difference correlates strongly with the presence or absence of infrared excesses due to primordial circumstellar disks -- the single star population includes many stars with disks, and their rotation periods are distinctively longer on average than their binary star cousins of the same mass. By Praesepe age, the significance of the difference in rotation rate between the single and binary low mass dMs is much less, suggesting that angular momentum loss from winds for fully-convective zero-age main sequence stars erases memory of the rotation rate dichotomy for binary and single very low mass stars at later ages.Comment: accepted by A

The Mass-Radius Relation Of Young Stars. I. Usco 5, An M4.5 Eclipsing Binary In Upper Scorpius Observed By K2

We present the discovery that UScoCTIO 5, a known spectroscopic binary in the Upper Scorpius star-forming region (P = 34 days, M-tot sin(i) = 0.64M(circle dot)), is an eclipsing system with both primary and secondary eclipses apparent in K2 light curves obtained during Campaign 2. We have simultaneously fit the eclipse profiles from the K2 light curves and the existing RV data to demonstrate that UScoCTIO 5 consists of a pair of nearly identical M4.5 stars with M-A = 0.329 +/- 0.002 M-circle dot, R-A = 0.834 +/- 0.006 R-circle dot, M-B = 0.317 +/- 0.002 M-circle dot, and R-B = 0.810 +/- 0.006 R-circle dot. The radii are broadly consistent with pre-main-sequence ages predicted by stellar evolutionary models, but none agree to within the uncertainties. All models predict systematically incorrect masses at the 25%-50% level for the HR diagram position of these mid-M dwarfs, suggesting significant modifications to mass-dependent outcomes of star and planet formation. The form of the discrepancy for most model sets is not that they predict luminosities that are too low, but rather that they predict temperatures that are too high, suggesting that the models do not fully encompass the physics of energy transport (via convection and/or missing opacities) and/or a miscalibration of the SpT-T-eff scale. The simplest modification to the models (changing T-eff to match observations) would yield an older age for this system, in line with the recently proposed older age of Upper Scorpius (tau similar to 11 Myr).NASA Science Mission directorateW. M. Keck FoundationAstronom