2 research outputs found
Spectral Characterization of a Complete Equatorial Sample of 615 K Dwarfs
We present the results of a spectroscopic study to determine the stellar properties, activity levels, space motions, and ages of the nearest K dwarfs. The targeted stars are members of RKSTAR (RECONS K Star) Survey that includes ∼5000 K dwarf primaries within 50 pc. An initial study established a benchmark calibration set of 35 K dwarfs with known ages of 20 Myr to 5 Gyr and high resolution (R=80000) spectra acquired on the CHIRON echelle spectrometer on the SMARTS 1.5m telescope at CTIO. Two known spectral indicators of activity and youth — the Hα absorption line (6562.8 Å) and the Li I resonance line (6707.8 Å) — showed strong trends in the training set. A sample of 615 K dwarfs within 33 parsecs and found between declinations +30 and −30 degrees has now been observed with CHIRON and analyzed relative to the stars in the benchmark calibration set. Surprisingly, it appears that as many as ∼8% of these K dwarfs have spectroscopic features indicating that they are young and/or active. As expected, Galactic U V W space motions indicate that most of the stars fall into the thin (80%) and thick (20%) disk populations, with a single outlier, HD 134439, which is a known halo star. Overall, we find a set of metal poor K dwarfs with [Fe/H]values of −0.5 dex or less that account for 4% of the population in the solar neighborhood.
Empirical SpecMatch has been used to measure stellar properties for this sample of K dwarfs: temperatures range from 3600–5500 K, metallicities range from −0.6 \u3c [Fe/H]\u3c +0.55, and rotational velocities (v sin i) range from less than 10 km/s to more than 50 km/s. Surface gravity values (log g values) have also been determined, although they are less reliable than the other quantities. Cross-matching with NASA’s Exoplanet Archive reveals that only 42 exoplanet host stars are among our sample, highlighting the limited focus on mid and late-type K dwarfs (Teff \u3c 4800 K) in large exoplanet surveys. As a result of this work, we have identified 500 K dwarfs that are calm host stars worthy of detailed efforts to detect terrestrial planets. This work will serve as a key resource for assessing host star suitability for exoplanet habitability
Mind the Gap I: H Activity of M Dwarfs Near the Partially/Fully Convective Boundary and a New H Emission Deficiency Zone on the Main Sequence
Since identifying the gap in the H-R Diagram (HRD) marking the transition
between partially and fully convective interiors, a unique type of slowly
pulsating M dwarf has been proposed. These unstable M dwarfs provide new
laboratories in which to understand how changing interior structures result in
potentially observable activity at the surface. In this work, we report the
results of the largest high-resolution spectroscopic H emission survey
to date spanning this transition region, including 480 M dwarfs observed using
the CHIRON spectrograph at CTIO/SMARTS 1.5-m. We find that M dwarfs with
H in emission are almost entirely found 0 to 0.5 magnitude above the
top edge of the gap in the HRD, whereas effectively no stars in and below the
gap show emission. Thus, the top edge of the gap marks a relatively sharp
activity transition and there is no anomalous H activity for stars in
the gap. We also identify a new region at 10.3 10.8 on the main
sequence where fewer M dwarfs exhibit H emission compared to M dwarfs
above and below this magnitude range. Careful evaluation of literature results
indicates that 1) rotation and H activity distributions on the main
sequence are closely related, and 2) fewer stars in this absolute magnitude
range rotate in less than 13 days than populations surrounding this
region. This result suggests that the most massive fully convective stars lose
their angular momentum faster than both partially convective stars and less
massive fully convective stars.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures, and 6 table. Submitted to A