309 research outputs found
Empirical Isochrones for Low Mass Stars in Nearby Young Associations
Absolute ages of young stars are important for many issues in pre-main
sequence stellar and circumstellar evolution but are long recognized as
difficult to derive and calibrate. In this paper, we use literature spectral
types and photometry to construct empirical isochrones in HR diagrams for
low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the eta Cha, epsilon Cha, and TW Hya
Associations and the beta Pic and Tuc-Hor Moving Groups. A successful theory of
pre-main sequence evolution should match the shapes of the stellar loci for
these groups of young stars. However, when comparing the combined empirical
isochrones to isochrones predicted from evolutionary models, discrepancies lead
to a spectral type (mass) dependence in stellar age estimates. Improved
prescriptions for convection and boundary conditions in the latest models of
pre-main sequence models lead to a significantly improved correspondence
between empirical and model isochrones, with small offsets at low temperatures
that may be explained by observational uncertainties or by model limitations.
Independent of model predictions, linear fits to combined stellar loci of these
regions provide a simple empirical method to order clusters by luminosity with
a reduced dependence on spectral type. Age estimates calculated from various
sets of modern models that reproduce Li depletion boundary ages of the beta Pic
Moving Group also imply a ~4 Myr age for the low mass members of the Upper Sco
OB Association, which is younger than the 11 Myr age that has been recently
estimated for intermediate mass members.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 18 page
Age-Related Observations of Low Mass Pre-Main and Young Main Sequence Stars (Invited Review)
This overview summarizes the age dating methods available for young sub-solar
mass stars. Pre-main sequence age diagnostics include the Hertzsprung-Russell
(HR) diagram, spectroscopic surface gravity indicators, and lithium depletion;
asteroseismology is also showing recent promise. Near and beyond the zero-age
main sequence, rotation period or vsini and activity (coronal and
chromospheric) diagnostics along with lithium depletion serve as age proxies.
Other authors in this volume present more detail in each of the aforementioned
areas. Herein, I focus on pre-main sequence HR diagrams and address the
questions: Do empirical young cluster isochrones match theoretical isochrones?
Do isochrones predict stellar ages consistent with those derived via other
independent techniques? Do the observed apparent luminosity spreads at constant
effective temperature correspond to true age spreads? While definitive answers
to these questions are not provided, some methods of progression are outlined.Comment: to appear in IAU Symposium 258, "Ages of Stars", E.E. Mamajek, D.R.
Soderblom, R.F.G. Wyse, ed
An Optical Spectroscopic Study of T Tauri Stars. I. Photospheric Properties
Measurements of masses and ages of young stars from their location in the HR
diagram are limited by not only the typical observational uncertainties that
apply to field stars, but also by large systematic uncertainties related to
circumstellar phenomena. In this paper, we analyze flux calibrated optical
spectra to measure accurate spectral types and extinctions of 283 nearby T
Tauri stars. The primary advances in this paper are (1) the incorporation of a
simplistic accretion continuum in optical spectral type and extinction
measurements calculated over the full optical wavelength range and (2) the
uniform analysis of a large sample of stars. Comparisons between the
non-accreting TTS photospheric templates and stellar photosphere models are
used to derive conversions from spectral type to temperature. Differences
between spectral types can be subtle and difficult to discern, especially when
accounting for accretion and extinction. The spectral types measured here are
mostly consistent with spectral types measured over the past decade. However,
our new spectral types are 1-2 subclasses later than literature spectral types
for the original members of the TWA and are discrepant with literature values
for some well known Taurus CTTSs. Our extinction measurements are consistent
with other optical extinction measurements but are typically 1 mag lower than
nIR measurements, likely the result of methodological differences and the
presence of nIR excesses in most CTTSs. As an illustration of the impact of
accretion, SpT, and extinction uncertainties on the HR diagrams of young
clusters, we find that the resulting luminosity spread of stars in the TWA is
15-30%. The luminosity spread in the TWA and previously measured for binary
stars in Taurus suggests that for a majority of stars, protostellar accretion
rates are not large enough to significantly alter the subsequent evolution.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 30 pages plus 12 pages of Tables and Reference
The Stellar Populations of Praesepe and Coma Berenices
We present the results of a stellar membership survey of the nearby open
clusters Praesepe and Coma Berenices. We have combined archival survey data
from the SDSS, 2MASS, USNOB1.0, and UCAC-2.0 surveys to compile proper motions
and photometry for ~5 million sources over 300 deg^2. Of these sources, 1010
stars in Praesepe and 98 stars in Coma Ber are identified as candidate members
with probability >80%; 442 and 61 are identified as high-probability candidates
for the first time. We estimate that this survey is >90% complete across a wide
range of spectral types (F0 to M5 in Praesepe, F5 to M6 in Coma Ber). We have
also investigated the stellar mass dependence of each cluster's mass and radius
in order to quantify the role of mass segregation and tidal stripping in
shaping the present-day mass function and spatial distribution of stars.
Praesepe shows clear evidence of mass segregation across the full stellar mass
range; Coma Ber does not show any clear trend, but low number statistics would
mask a trend of the same magnitude as in Praesepe. The mass function for
Praesepe (t~600 Myr; M~500 Msun) follows a power law consistent with that of
the field present-day mass function, suggesting that any mass-dependent tidal
stripping could have removed only the lowest-mass members (<0.15 Msun). Coma
Ber, which is younger but much less massive (t~400 Myr; M~100 Msun), follows a
significantly shallower power law. This suggests that some tidal stripping has
occurred, but the low-mass stellar population has not been strongly depleted
down to the survey completeness limit (~0.12 Msun).Comment: Accepted to AJ; 14 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables + 2 online-only table
A Simple Calculation in Service of Constraining the Rate of FU Orionis Outburst Events from Photometric Monitoring Surveys
An enigmatic and rare type of young stellar object is the FU Orionis class.
The members are interpreted as "outbursting," that is, currently in a state of
enhanced accretion by several orders of magnitude relative to the more modest
disk-to-star accretion rates measured in typical T Tauri stars. They are key to
our understanding of the history of stellar mass assembly and pre-main sequence
evolution, as well as critical to consider in the chemical and physical
evolution of the circumstellar environment -- where planets form. A common
supposition is that *all* T Tauri stars undergo repeated such outbursts, more
frequently in their earlier evolutionary stages when the disks are more
massive, so as to build up the requisite amount of stellar mass on the required
time scale. However, the actual data supporting this traditional picture of
episodically enhanced disk accretion are limited, and the observational
properties of the known sample of FU Ori objects quite diverse. To improve our
understanding of these rare objects, we outline the logic for meaningfully
constraining the rate of FU Ori outbursts and present numbers to guide
parameter choices in the analysis of time domain surveys.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap
400 Years of Astronomical Discovery: The Accelerating Understanding of our Place in the Universe
This plenary talk is a fast-paced review of the four hundred years of astronomical discovery since Galileo’s first use of the telescope
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