The Luminosity and Mass Functions of Low-Mass Stars in the Galactic Disk. I. The Calibration Region
We present measurements of the luminosity and mass functions of low-massstars constructed from a catalog of matched Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS) and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) detections. Thisphotometric catalog contains more than 25,000 matched SDSS and 2MASSpoint sources spanning ~30 deg2 on the sky. We have obtainedfollow-up spectroscopy, complete to J = 16, of more than 500 low-massdwarf candidates within a 1 deg2 subsample, and thousands ofadditional dwarf candidates in the remaining 29 deg2. Thisspectroscopic sample verifies that the photometric sample is complete,uncontaminated, and unbiased at the 99% level globally, and at the 95%level in each color range. We use this sample to derive the luminosityand mass functions of low-mass stars over nearly a decade in mass (0.7 Msun > M * > 0.1 M sun). Theluminosity function of the Galactic disk is statistically consistentwith that measured from volume-complete samples in the solarneighborhood. We find that the logarithmically binned mass function isbest fit with an Mc = 0.29 log-normal distribution, with a90% confidence interval of Mc = 0.20-0.50. These 90%confidence intervals correspond to linearly binned mass functionspeaking between 0.27 M sun and 0.12 M sun, wherethe best fit MF turns over at 0.17 M sun. A power-law fit tothe entire mass range sampled here, however, returns a best fit ofα = 1.1 (where the Salpeter slope is α = 2.35); a brokenpower law returns α = 2.04 at masses greater than log M =-0.5 (M = 0.32 M sun), and α = 0.2 at lowermasses. These results agree well with most previous investigations,though differences in the analytic formalisms adopted to describe thosemass functions, as well as the range over which the data are fit, cangive the false impression of disagreement. Given the richness ofmodern-day astronomical data sets, we are entering the regime wherebystronger conclusions can be drawn by comparing the actual datapointsmeasured in different mass functions, rather than the results ofanalytic analyses that impose structure on the data a priori. Havingvalidated this method to generate a low-mass luminosity function frommatched SDSS/2MASS data sets, future studies will extend this techniqueto the entirety of the SDSS footprint.Based in part on observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory3.5 m telescope, which is owned and operated by the AstrophysicalResearch Consortium.
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The effect of activity on stellar temperatures and radii
Context: Recent analyses of low-mass eclipsing binary stars haveunveiled a significant disagreement between the observations andpredictions of stellar structure models. Results show that theoreticalmodels underestimate the radii and overestimate the effectivetemperatures of low-mass stars but yield luminosities that accord withobservations. A hypothesis based upon the effects of stellar activitywas put forward to explain the discrepancies. Aims: In this paper westudy the existence of the same trend in single active stars and providea consistent scenario to explain systematic differences between activeand inactive stars in the H-R diagram reported earlier. Methods: Theanalysis is done using single field stars of spectral types late-K and Mand computing their bolometric magnitudes and temperatures throughinfrared colours and spectral indices. The properties of the stars insamples of active and inactive stars are compared statistically toreveal systematic differences. Results: After accounting for a numberof possible bias effects, active stars are shown to be cooler thaninactive stars of similar luminosity therefore implying a larger radiusas well, in proportions that are in excellent agreement with those foundfrom eclipsing binaries. Conclusions: The present results generalisethe existence of strong radius and temperature dependences on stellaractivity to the entire population of low-mass stars, regardless of theirmembership in close binary systems.Tables 1 and 2 are 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/478/507
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Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
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Where Are the M Dwarf Disks Older Than 10 Million Years?
We present 11.7 μm observations of nine late-type dwarfs obtained atthe Keck I 10 m telescope in 2002 December and 2003 April. Our targetswere selected for their youth or apparent IRAS 12 μm excess. For allnine sources, excess infrared emission is not detected. We find thatstellar wind drag can dominate the circumstellar grain removal andplausibly explain the dearth of M dwarf systems older than 10 Myr withcurrently detected infrared excesses. We predict that M dwarfs possessfractional infrared excesses on the order ofLIR/L*~10-6 and that this may bedetectable with future efforts.
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Hipparcos red stars in the HpV_T2 and V I_C systems
For Hipparcos M, S, and C spectral type stars, we provide calibratedinstantaneous (epoch) Cousins V - I color indices using newly derivedHpV_T2 photometry. Three new sets of ground-based Cousins V I data havebeen obtained for more than 170 carbon and red M giants. These datasetsin combination with the published sources of V I photometry served toobtain the calibration curves linking Hipparcos/Tycho Hp-V_T2 with theCousins V - I index. In total, 321 carbon stars and 4464 M- and S-typestars have new V - I indices. The standard error of the mean V - I isabout 0.1 mag or better down to Hp~9 although it deteriorates rapidly atfainter magnitudes. These V - I indices can be used to verify thepublished Hipparcos V - I color indices. Thus, we have identified ahandful of new cases where, instead of the real target, a random fieldstar has been observed. A considerable fraction of the DMSA/C and DMSA/Vsolutions for red stars appear not to be warranted. Most likely suchspurious solutions may originate from usage of a heavily biased color inthe astrometric processing.Based on observations from the Hipparcos astrometric satellite operatedby the European Space Agency (ESA 1997).}\fnmsep\thanks{Table 7 is onlyavailable 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/qcat?J/A+A/397/997
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Stellar encounters with the solar system
We continue our search, based on Hipparcos data, for stars which haveencountered or will encounter the solar system(García-Sánchez et al. \cite{Garcia}). Hipparcos parallaxand proper motion data are combined with ground-based radial velocitymeasurements to obtain the trajectories of stars relative to the solarsystem. We have integrated all trajectories using three different modelsof the galactic potential: a local potential model, a global potentialmodel, and a perturbative potential model. The agreement between themodels is generally very good. The time period over which our search forclose passages is valid is about +/-10 Myr. Based on the Hipparcos data,we find a frequency of stellar encounters within one parsec of the Sunof 2.3 +/- 0.2 per Myr. However, we also find that the Hipparcos data isobservationally incomplete. By comparing the Hipparcos observations withthe stellar luminosity function for star systems within 50 pc of theSun, we estimate that only about one-fifth of the stars or star systemswere detected by Hipparcos. Correcting for this incompleteness, weobtain a value of 11.7 +/- 1.3 stellar encounters per Myr within one pcof the Sun. We examine the ability of two future missions, FAME andGAIA, to extend the search for past and future stellar encounters withthe Sun.
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Photometric Measurements of the Fields of More than 700 Nearby Stars
In preparation for optical/IR interferometric searches for substellarcompanions of nearby stars, we undertook to characterize the fields ofall nearby stars visible from the Northern Hemisphere to determinesuitable companions for interferometric phase referencing. Because theKeck Interferometer in particular will be able to phase-reference oncompanions within the isoplanatic patch (30") to about 17th magnitude atK, we took images at V, r, and i that were deep enough to determine iffield stars were present to this magnitude around nearby stars using aspot-coated CCD. We report on 733 fields containing 10,629 measurementsin up to three filters (Gunn i, r and Johnson V) of nearby stars down toabout 13th magnitude at V.
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The Palomar/MSU Nearby Star Spectroscopic Survey.II.The Southern M Dwarfs and Investigation of Magnetic Activity
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996AJ....112.2799H&db_key=AST
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Parallaxes and Proper Motions From the MCCormick Observatory: List 47
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996AJ....111..492I&db_key=AST
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The Palomar/MSU Nearby-Star Spectroscopic Survey. I. The Northern M Dwarfs -Bandstrengths and Kinematics
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1995AJ....110.1838R&db_key=AST
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Far infrared properties of late type dwarfs. Infrared fluxes of K & M dwarfs
IRAS fluxes/upper limits are presented for a large sample of K and Mdwarfs. Good agreement is found between the 12 micrometer fluxes andthose derived from the photospheric models of Mould (1976).Relationships between the optical and infrared colors are derived. Theactive dMe/dKe stars appear systematically brighter in the infraredcompared with the less active dM/dK stars, which could be attributed tomore efficient nonradiative heating in their atmosphere. Any systematicdifferences found in our results when compared with those obtained fromprevious studies are attributed to the different analysis packages used.
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The importance of surface inhomogeneities for K and M dwarf chromospheric fluxes
We present published and archived spectroscopic and spectrophotometricdata of H-alpha, Ca II, Mg II, and X-rays for a large sample of K and Mdwarfs. The data set points to the importance that surfaceinhomogeneities have in the flux luminosity diagrams in these late-typedwarfs, irrespective of whether the Balmer lines are in emission orabsorption. Although supporting the fact that cooler stars exhibitincreasing levels of surface activity, evident through an increasingincidence of Balmer emission, surface inhomogeneities, or variations inthe local temperature and density structure, at the chromospheric level,dominate the total Ca II and Mg II fluxes. We show that the flux-fluxand luminosity-luminosity relations indicate differing extents ofinhomogeneity from the chromosphere through to the corona. A goodcorrelation between Ca II and Mg II fluxes indicates that they areformed in overlapping regions of the chromosphere, so that thecontribution of surface inhomogeneities is not evident from thisparticular flux-flux diagram. In the region of the upper chromospherethrough to the transition and corona, the correlation between Ly-alphaand X-ray fluxes indicates regions with similar levels of arealinhomogeneity. This appears to be uncorrelated with that at thechromospheric level.
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Photometry of dwarf K and M stars
An observational program using UBVRI photometry is presented for 688stars from among the dwarf K and M stars already found spectroscopicallyby Vyssotsky (1958). Of these, 211 have not been observedphotometrically. These observations were obtained over a period ofseveral years at the Kitt Peak National Observatory using a GaAsphotomultiplier with an 0.9 m reflector. Based on night-to-nightvariations in the measures of individual stars, the internal errors maybe estimated to be roughly 0.01 mag for the colors and 0.015 for the Vmagnitudes. The photometric parallaxes reported for each star werecomputed in the manner discussed by Weis (1986).
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The frequency of low-mass companions to K and M stars in the solar neighbourhood
The measurements of radial velocities of 200 stars from the Gliesecatalog during 5 years with an accuracy of 0.5 km/s indicate the absenceof substellar mass companions with periods less than 3000 d. Theprobability of companion detection is determined by numerical modeling.New data on spectroscopic orbits of late-type dwarfs are used toestimate the distribution of companion masses by the maximum likelihoodmethod. The statistical properties of low-mass binaries are differentfrom those of more massive main-sequence and giant systems: thefrequency of spectroscopic binaries is less (10 +/- 2 percent) while atleast half of them have a mass ratio exceeding 0.5. Evidence is foundfor a nonmonotonic distribution of the masses of secondary componentswith a deficit in the 0.2-0.3 solar mass range.
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Chromospheric H-alpha and CA II lines in late-type stars
Observations of H-alpha and Ca II H and K in the chromospheres of 50main-sequence K and M stars are reported. The photospheric contributionto the integrated core flux in these lines is found to be more importantthan previously thought, and earlier estimates of the basal flux of cooldwarf stars are revised. The H-alpha data confirm the presence of bothan upper and a lower limit to the H-alpha equivalent width attained atany given spectral type. The maximum H-alpha absorption strengthdecreases gradually toward cooler stars while the maximum 'saturated'quiescent emission strength increases. The Ca II emission strength isrelated to the strength of the emission or absorption feature atH-alpha, but there is not a one-to-one correlation. The main results maybe explained in terms of photoionization and collisional control of thenon-LTE H-alpha source function. Several aspects of the structure andheating of the outer atmospheres of dwarf K and M stars are discussed.
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BVRI photometry of the Gliese Catalogue stars
Photoelectri BVRI photometry on the Cousins (Kron-Cape) system has beenobtained for many of the southern faint stars in the Gliese Catalog(1969). This extends the work of Cousins (1980) and provides a uniformset of data for the nearby stars. Several red dwarfs are noted, whichwere used to define the red end of the Cousins system.
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Dwarf K and M stars of high proper motion found in a hemispheric survey
A recently completed visual/red spectral region objective-prism surveyof more than half the sky found some 2200 dwarf K and M stars ofnegligible proper motion (Stephenson, 1986). The present paper adds the1800-odd spectroscopically identified dwarfs that did prove to havesignificant proper motions. About half of these had previous spectralclassifications of some sort, especially by Vyssotsky (1952, 1956). Forthe great majority, the present coordinates are more accurate thanprevious data. The paper includes about 50 stars with unpublishedparallaxes, likely to have parallaxes of 0.05 arcsec or more. Combiningthe present data with the first paper suggests that the number oflow-proper-motion stars in that paper was not unreasonable.
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UBVRI photoelectric photometry of nearby stars
In order to complete the photometric data of the Gliese (1969) 'Catalogof Nearby Stars', and in addition use these data for the Hipparcos spaceastrometry mission, program stars have been selected from the catalogand its supplements on the basis of their having an incomplete set ofUBVRI photometric data of magnitude lower than 13. The program developedrejects determinations of any magnitude or color index having a residualgreater than 2(sigma-prime), where sigma-prime is the standard deviationfor the determinations of unit weight.
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Some Cross-Reference Lists for the Catalog of Possible Nearby Stars
Not Available
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Dwarf M stars found spectrophotometrically .
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1956AJ.....61..201V&db_key=AST
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INHABITED SKY
