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The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the solar neighbourhood. III. Improved distances, ages, and kinematics
Context: Ages, chemical compositions, velocity vectors, and Galacticorbits for stars in the solar neighbourhood are fundamental test datafor models of Galactic evolution. The Geneva-Copenhagen Survey of theSolar Neighbourhood (Nordström et al. 2004; GCS), amagnitude-complete, kinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F andG dwarfs, is the largest available sample with complete data for starswith ages spanning that of the disk. Aims: We aim to improve theaccuracy of the GCS data by implementing the recent revision of theHipparcos parallaxes. Methods: The new parallaxes yield improvedastrometric distances for 12 506 stars in the GCS. We also use theparallaxes to verify the distance calibration for uvby? photometryby Holmberg et al. (2007, A&A, 475, 519; GCS II). We add newselection criteria to exclude evolved cool stars giving unreliableresults and derive distances for 3580 stars with large parallax errorsor not observed by Hipparcos. We also check the GCS II scales of T_effand [Fe/H] and find no need for change. Results: Introducing thenew distances, we recompute MV for 16 086 stars, and U, V, W,and Galactic orbital parameters for the 13 520 stars that also haveradial-velocity measurements. We also recompute stellar ages from thePadova stellar evolution models used in GCS I-II, using the new valuesof M_V, and compare them with ages from the Yale-Yonsei andVictoria-Regina models. Finally, we compare the observed age-velocityrelation in W with three simulated disk heating scenarios to show thepotential of the data. Conclusions: With these revisions, thebasic data for the GCS stars should now be as reliable as is possiblewith existing techniques. Further improvement must await consolidationof the T_eff scale from angular diameters and fluxes, and the Gaiatrigonometric parallaxes. We discuss the conditions for improvingcomputed stellar ages from new input data, and for distinguishingdifferent disk heating scenarios from data sets of the size andprecision of the GCS.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/501/941
| A catalogue of chromospherically active binary stars (third edition)
The catalogue of chromospherically active binaries (CABs) has beenrevised and updated. With 203 new identifications, the number of CABstars is increased to 409. The catalogue is available in electronicformat where each system has a number of lines (suborders) with a uniqueorder number. The columns contain data of limited numbers of selectedcross references, comments to explain peculiarities and the position ofthe binarity in case it belongs to a multiple system, classicalidentifications (RS Canum Venaticorum, BY Draconis), brightness andcolours, photometric and spectroscopic data, a description of emissionfeatures (CaII H and K, Hα, ultraviolet, infrared),X-ray luminosity, radio flux, physical quantities and orbitalinformation, where each basic entry is referenced so users can go to theoriginal sources.
| Comparative statistics and origin of triple and quadruple stars
The statistics of catalogued quadruple stars consisting of two binaries(hierarchy 2 + 2), is studied in comparison with triple stars, withrespective sample sizes of 81 and 724. Seven representative quadruplesystems are discussed in greater detail. The main conclusions are asfollows. (i) Quadruple systems of ? Lyr type with similar massesand inner periods are common, in 42 per cent of the sample the outermass ratio is above 0.5 and the inner periods differ by less than 10times. (ii) The distributions of the inner periods in triple andquadruple stars are similar and bimodal. The inner mass ratios do notcorrelate with the inner periods. (iii) The statistics of outer periodsand mass ratios in triples and quadruples are different. The medianouter mass ratio in triples is 0.39 independently of the outer period,which has a smooth distribution. In contrast, the outer periods of 25per cent quadruples concentrate in the narrow range from 10 to 100yr,the outer mass ratios of these tight quadruples are above 0.6 and theirtwo inner periods are similar to each other. (iv) The outer and innermass ratios in triple and quadruple stars are not mutually correlated.In 13 per cent of quadruples both inner mass ratios are above 0.85(double twins). (v) The inner and outer orbital angular momenta andperiods in triple and quadruple systems with inner periods above 30dshow some correlation, the ratio of outer-to-inner periods is mostlycomprised between 5 and 104. In the systems with small periodratios the directions of the orbital spins are correlated, while in thesystems with large ratios they are not. The properties of multiple starsdo not correspond to the products of dynamical decay of small clusters,hence the N-body dynamics is not the dominant process of theirformation. On the other hand, rotationally driven (cascade)fragmentation possibly followed by migration of inner and/or outerorbits to shorter periods is a promising scenario to explain the originof triple and quadruple stars.
| Spectral Classification of Optical Counterparts to ROSAT All-Sky Survey X-Ray Sources
Previous work statistically identified 5492 optical counterparts, with>~90% confidence, from among the ~18,000 X-ray sources appearing inthe ROSAT All-Sky Survey Bright Source Catalog. Using low-resolutionspectra in the wavelength range 3700-7900 Å, we presentspectroscopic classifications for 195 of these counterparts which havenot previously been classified. Of these 195, we find 168 individualstars of F, G, K, or M type, 6 individual stars of unknown type, 6double stars, 6 AGNs or galaxies, and 7 unclassifiable objects; thespectra of the 2 remaining objects were saturated.
| Oxygen abundances in nearby stars. Clues to the formation and evolution of the Galactic disk
The abundances of iron and oxygen are homogeneously determined in asample of 523 nearby (d<150 pc) FGK disk and halo stars withmetallicities in the range -1.5<[Fe/H]<0.5. Iron abundances wereobtained from an LTE analysis of a large set of Fe I and Fe II lineswith reliable atomic data. Oxygen abundances were inferred from arestricted non-LTE analysis of the 777 nm O I triplet. We adopted theinfrared flux method temperature scale and surface gravities based onHipparcos trigonometric parallaxes. Within this framework, theionization balance of iron lines is not satisfied: the mean abundancesfrom the Fe I lines are systematically lower by 0.06 dex than those fromthe Fe II lines for dwarf stars of Teff>5500 K and[Fe/H]<0.0, and giant stars of all temperatures and metallicitiescovered by our sample. The discrepancy worsens for cooler and metal-richmain-sequence stars. We use the stellar kinematics to compute theprobabilities of our sample stars to be members of the thin disk, thickdisk, or halo of the Galaxy. We find that the majority of thekinematically-selected thick-disk stars show larger [O/Fe] ratioscompared to thin-disk stars while the rest show thin-disk abundances,which suggests that the latter are thin-disk members with unusual(hotter) kinematics. A close examination of this pattern for disk starswith ambiguous probabilities shows that an intermediate population withproperties between those of the thin and thick disks does not exist, atleast in the solar neighborhood. Excluding the stars with unusualkinematics, we find that thick-disk stars show slowly decreasing [O/Fe]ratios from about 0.5 to 0.4 in the -0.8<[Fe/H]<-0.3 range. Usinga simple model for the chemical evolution of the thick disk we show thatthis trend results directly from the metallicity dependence of the TypeII supernova yields. At [Fe/H]>-0.3, we find no obvious indication ofa sudden decrease (i.e., a "knee") in the [O/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] pattern ofthick-disk stars that would connect the thick and thin disk trends at ahigh metallicity. We conclude that Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) did notcontribute significantly to the chemical enrichment of the thick disk.In the -0.8<[Fe/H]<+0.3 range, thin-disk stars show decreasing[O/Fe] ratios from about 0.4 to 0.0 that require a SN Ia contribution.The implications of these results for studies of the formation andevolution of the Galactic disk are discussed.Tables 4-6 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/465/271 Partially based onobservations obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is a jointproject of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania StateUniversity, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitätMünchen, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; and datafrom the UVES Paranal Observatory Project (ESO DDT Program ID266.D-5655).
| Dynamical evolution of active detached binaries on the logJo-logM diagram and contact binary formation
Orbital angular momentum (OAM, Jo), systemic mass (M) andorbital period (P) distributions of chromospherically active binaries(CAB) and W Ursae Majoris (W UMa) systems were investigated. Thediagrams of and logJo-logM were formed from 119 CAB and 102 WUMa stars. The logJo-logM diagram is found to be mostmeaningful in demonstrating dynamical evolution of binary star orbits. Aslightly curved borderline (contact border) separating the detached andthe contact systems was discovered on the logJo-logM diagram.Since the orbital size (a) and period (P) of binaries are determined bytheir current Jo, M and mass ratio, q, the rates of OAM loss(dlogJo/dt) and mass loss (dlogM/dt) are primary parametersto determine the direction and the speed of the dynamical evolution. Adetached system becomes a contact system if its own dynamical evolutionenables it to pass the contact border on the logJo-logMdiagram. The evolution of q for a mass-losing detached system is unknownunless the mass-loss rate for each component is known. Assuming q isconstant in the first approximation and using the mean decreasing ratesof Jo and M from the kinematical ages of CAB stars, it hasbeen predicted that 11, 23 and 39 per cent of current CAB stars wouldtransform to W UMa systems if their nuclear evolution permits them tolive 2, 4 and 6 Gyr, respectively.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| Tertiary companions to close spectroscopic binaries
We have surveyed a sample of 165 solar-type spectroscopic binaries (SB)with periods from 1 to 30 days for higher-order multiplicity. Asubsample of 62 targets were observed with the NACO adaptive opticssystem and 13 new physical tertiary companions were detected. Anadditional 12 new wide companions (5 still tentative) were found usingthe 2MASS all-sky survey. The binaries belong to 161 stellar systems; ofthese 64 are triple, 11 quadruple and 7 quintuple. After correction forincompleteness, the fraction of SBs with additional companions is foundto be 63% ± 5%. We find that this fraction is a strong functionof the SB period P, reaching 96% for P<3d and dropping to34% for P>12^d. Period distributions of SBs with and withouttertiaries are significantly different, but their mass ratiodistributions are identical. The statistical data on the multiplicity ofclose SBs presented in this paper indicates that the periods and massratios of SBs were established very early, but the periods of SB systemswith triples were further shortened by angular momentum exchange withcompanions.
| Elemental abundance survey of the Galactic thick disc
We have performed an abundance analysis for F- and G- dwarfs of theGalactic thick-disc component. A sample of 176 nearby (d<= 150pc)thick-disc candidate stars was chosen from the Hipparcos catalogue andsubjected to a high-resolution spectroscopic analysis. Using accurateradial velocities combined with the Hipparcos astrometry, kinematics (U,V and W) and Galactic orbital parameters were computed. We estimate theprobability for a star to belong to the thin disc, the thick disc or thehalo. With a probability P>= 70 per cent taken as certain membership,we assigned 95 stars to the thick disc, 13 to the thin disc, and 20 tothe halo. The remaining 48 stars in the sample cannot be assigned withreasonable certainty to one of the three components.Abundances of C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni,Cu, Zn, Y, Ba, Ce, Nd and Eu have been obtained. The abundances for thethick-disc stars are compared with those for the thin-disc members fromReddy et al. The ratios of α-elements (O, Mg, Si, Ca and Ti) toiron for thick-disc stars show a clear enhancement compared to thin-discmembers in the range -0.3 < [Fe/H] < -1.2. There are also otherelements - Al, Sc, V, Co, and possibly Zn - which show enhanced ratiosto iron in the thick disc relative to the thin disc. The abundances ofNa, Cr, Mn, Ni and Cu (relative to Fe) are very similar for thin- andthick-disc stars. The dispersion in abundance ratios [X/Fe] at given[Fe/H] for thick-disc stars is consistent with the expected scatter dueto measurement errors, suggesting a lack of `cosmic' scatter.A few stars classified as members of the thick disc by our kinematiccriteria show thin-disc abundances. These stars, which appear older thanmost thin-disc stars, are also, on average, younger than the thick-discpopulation. They may have originated early in the thin-disc history, andbeen subsequently scattered to hotter orbits by collisions. The thickdisc may not include stars with [Fe/H] > -0.3. The observedcompositions of the thin and thick discs seem to be consistent with themodels of galaxy formation by hierarchical clustering in a Lambda colddark matter (ΛCDM) universe.
| Mass loss and orbital period decrease in detached chromospherically active binaries
The secular evolution of the orbital angular momentum (OAM), thesystemic mass (M=M1+M2) and the orbital period of114 chromospherically active binaries (CABs) were investigated afterdetermining the kinematical ages of the subsamples which were setaccording to OAM bins. OAMs, systemic masses and orbital periods wereshown to be decreasing by the kinematical ages. The first-orderdecreasing rates of OAM, systemic mass and orbital period have beendetermined as per systemic OAM, per systemic mass and per orbitalperiod, respectively, from the kinematical ages. The ratio of d logJ/dlogM= 2.68, which were derived from the kinematics of the presentsample, implies that there must be a mechanism which amplifies theangular momentum loss (AML) times in comparison to isotropic AML ofhypothetical isotropic wind from the components. It has been shown thatsimple isotropic mass loss from the surface of a component or bothcomponents would increase the orbital period.
| A Catalog of Northern Stars with Annual Proper Motions Larger than 0.15" (LSPM-NORTH Catalog)
The LSPM catalog is a comprehensive list of 61,977 stars north of theJ2000 celestial equator that have proper motions larger than 0.15"yr-1 (local-background-stars frame). The catalog has beengenerated primarily as a result of our systematic search for high propermotion stars in the Digitized Sky Surveys using our SUPERBLINK software.At brighter magnitudes, the catalog incorporates stars and data from theTycho-2 Catalogue and also, to a lesser extent, from the All-SkyCompiled Catalogue of 2.5 million stars. The LSPM catalog considerablyexpands over the old Luyten (Luyten Half-Second [LHS] and New LuytenTwo-Tenths [NLTT]) catalogs, superseding them for northern declinations.Positions are given with an accuracy of <~100 mas at the 2000.0epoch, and absolute proper motions are given with an accuracy of ~8 masyr-1. Corrections to the local-background-stars propermotions have been calculated, and absolute proper motions in theextragalactic frame are given. Whenever available, we also give opticalBT and VT magnitudes (from Tycho-2, ASCC-2.5),photographic BJ, RF, and IN magnitudes(from USNO-B1 catalog), and infrared J, H, and Ks magnitudes(from 2MASS). We also provide an estimated V magnitude and V-J color fornearly all catalog entries, useful for initial classification of thestars. The catalog is estimated to be over 99% complete at high Galacticlatitudes (|b|>15deg) and over 90% complete at lowGalactic latitudes (|b|>15deg), down to a magnitudeV=19.0, and has a limiting magnitude V=21.0. All the northern starslisted in the LHS and NLTT catalogs have been reidentified, and theirpositions, proper motions, and magnitudes reevaluated. The catalog alsolists a large number of completely new objects, which promise to expandvery significantly the census of red dwarfs, subdwarfs, and white dwarfsin the vicinity of the Sun.Based on data mining of the Digitized Sky Surveys (DSSs), developed andoperated by the Catalogs and Surveys Branch of the Space TelescopeScience Institute (STScI), Baltimore.Developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), aspart of the NASA/NSF NStars program.
| SB9: The ninth catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits
The Ninth Catalogue of Spectroscopic Binary Orbits(http://sb9.astro.ulb.ac.be) continues the series of compilations ofspectroscopic orbits carried out over the past 35 years by Batten andcollaborators. As of 2004 May 1st, the new Catalogue holds orbits for2386 systems. Some essential differences between this catalogue and itspredecessors are outlined and three straightforward applications arepresented: (1) completeness assessment: period distribution of SB1s andSB2s; (2) shortest periods across the H-R diagram; (3)period-eccentricity relation.
| 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
| Kinematics of chromospherically active binaries and evidence of an orbital period decrease in binary evolution
The kinematics of 237 chromospherically active binaries (CABs) werestudied. The sample is heterogeneous with different orbits andphysically different components from F to M spectral-type main-sequencestars to G and K giants and supergiants. The computed U, V, W spacevelocities indicate that the sample is also heterogeneous in velocityspace. That is, both kinematically younger and older systems exist amongthe non-evolved main sequence and the evolved binaries containing giantsand subgiants. The kinematically young (0.95 Gyr) subsample (N= 95),which is formed according to the kinematical criteria of moving groups,was compared with the rest (N= 142) of the sample (3.86 Gyr) toinvestigate any observational clues of binary evolution. Comparing theorbital period histograms between the younger and older subsamples,evidence was found supporting the finding of Demircan that the CABs losemass (and angular momentum) and evolve towards shorter orbital periods.The evidence of mass loss is noticeable on the histograms of the totalmass (Mh+Mc), which is compared between theyounger (only N= 53 systems available) and older subsamples (only N= 66systems available). The orbital period decrease during binary evolutionis found to be clearly indicated by the kinematical ages of 6.69, 5.19and 3.02 Gyr which were found in the subsamples according to the periodranges of logP<= 0.8, 0.8 < logP<= 1.7 and 1.7 < logP<=3, respectively, among the binaries in the older subsample.
| Empirically Constrained Color-Temperature Relations. II. uvby
A new grid of theoretical color indices for the Strömgren uvbyphotometric system has been derived from MARCS model atmospheres and SSGsynthetic spectra for cool dwarf and giant stars having-3.0<=[Fe/H]<=+0.5 and 3000<=Teff<=8000 K. Atwarmer temperatures (i.e., 8000-2.0. To overcome thisproblem, the theoretical indices at intermediate and high metallicitieshave been corrected using a set of color calibrations based on fieldstars having well-determined distances from Hipparcos, accurateTeff estimates from the infrared flux method, andspectroscopic [Fe/H] values. In contrast with Paper I, star clustersplayed only a minor role in this analysis in that they provided asupplementary constraint on the color corrections for cool dwarf starswith Teff<=5500 K. They were mainly used to test thecolor-Teff relations and, encouragingly, isochrones thatemploy the transformations derived in this study are able to reproducethe observed CMDs (involving u-v, v-b, and b-y colors) for a number ofopen and globular clusters (including M67, the Hyades, and 47 Tuc)rather well. Moreover, our interpretations of such data are verysimilar, if not identical, with those given in Paper I from aconsideration of BV(RI)C observations for the sameclusters-which provides a compelling argument in support of thecolor-Teff relations that are reported in both studies. Inthe present investigation, we have also analyzed the observedStrömgren photometry for the classic Population II subdwarfs,compared our ``final'' (b-y)-Teff relationship with thosederived empirically in a number of recent studies and examined in somedetail the dependence of the m1 index on [Fe/H].Based, in part, on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope,operated jointly on the island of La Palma by Denmark, Finland, Iceland,Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de losMuchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.Based, in part, on observations obtained with the Danish 1.54 mtelescope at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.
| 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.
| The CHARA Catalog of Orbital Elements of Spectroscopic Binary Stars
Optical interferometry is entering a new age, with several ground-basedlong-baseline observatories now making observations of unprecedentedresolution. Interferometers bring a new level of resolution to bear onspectroscopic binaries, enabling the full extraction of the physicalparameters for the component stars with high accuracy. In the case ofdouble-lined systems, a geometrically determined orbital parallaxbecomes available as well. The first step in preparing to observespectroscopic binaries is to list them, which has not been done sincethe 1989 publication of the Eighth Catalogue of the Orbital Elements ofSpectroscopic Binaries by Batten et al. We present a new catalog withroughly half again as many listings as the Eighth Catalogue. Angularseparation predictions are made for each catalog entry. The numbers ofspectroscopic binaries available for study as a function of severalimportant observational parameters are explored, and in particular, thenumber of spectroscopic binaries as a function of expected separation isdiscussed.
| 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.
| New High Proper Motion Stars from the Digitized Sky Survey. I. Northern Stars with 0.5" yr-1<μ<2.0" yr-1 at Low Galactic Latitudes
We have conducted a systematic search for high proper motion stars inthe Digitized Sky Survey, in the area of the sky north of -2.8 degreesin declination and within 25 degrees of the Galactic plane. Using theSUPERBLINK software, a powerful automated blink comparator developed byus, we have identified 601 stars in the magnitude range 92.0" yr-1), and five were missed because they wereeither too bright for SUPERBLINK to handle or they are in the immediateproximity of very bright stars. Only one of Luyten's stars (LHS 1657)could not be recovered at all, even by visual inspection of the POSSplates, and is now suspected to be bogus. The very high success rate inthe recovery by SUPERBLINK of faint Luyten stars suggests that our newsurvey of high proper motion stars is at least 99% complete for starswith proper motions 0.5"yr-1<μ<2.0"yr-1down to R=19. This paper includes a list of positions, proper motions,magnitudes, and finder charts for all the new high proper motion stars.This paper is respectfully dedicated to the memory of the late Barry M.Lasker, former director of the Catalogs and Survey Branch of the SpaceTelescope Science Institute, whose vision was instrumental in thecreation of the Digitized Sky Survey and Guide Star Catalogs.
| Revised Coordinates and Proper Motions of the Stars in the Luyten Half-Second Catalog
We present refined coordinates and proper-motion data for the highproper-motion (HPM) stars in the Luyten Half-Second (LHS) catalog. Thepositional uncertainty in the original Luyten catalog is typicallygreater than 10" and is often greater than 30". We have used the digitalscans of the POSS I and POSS II plates to derive more accurate positionsand proper motions of the objects. Out of the 4470 candidates in the LHScatalog, 4323 objects were manually reidentified in the POSS I and POSSII scans. A small fraction of the stars were not found because of thelack of finder charts and digitized POSS II scans. The uncertainties inthe revised positions are typically ~2" but can be as high as ~8" in afew cases, which is a large improvement over the original data.Cross-correlation with the Tycho-2 and Hipparcos catalogs yielded 819candidates (with mR<~12). For these brighter sources, theposition and proper-motion data were replaced with the more accurateTycho-2/Hipparcos data. In total, we have revised proper-motionmeasurements and coordinates for 4040 stars and revised coordinates for4330 stars. The electronic version of the paper5 contains the updated information on all 4470stars in the LHS catalog.
| The Near-Ultraviolet Continuum of Late-Type Stars
Analyses of the near-ultraviolet continuum of late-type stars have ledto controversial results regarding the performance of state-of-the-artmodel atmospheres. The release of the homogeneous InternationalUltraviolet Explorer (IUE) final archive and the availability of thehigh-accuracy Hipparcos parallaxes provide an opportunity to revisitthis issue, as accurate stellar distances make it possible to compareobserved absolute fluxes with the predictions of model atmospheres. Thenear-UV continuum is highly sensitive to Teff and [Fe/H], andonce the gravity is constrained from the parallax, these parameters maybe derived from the analysis of low-dispersion, long-wavelength(2000-3000 Å) IUE spectra for stars previously studied by Alonso,Arribas, & Martínez-Roger using the Infrared Flux Method(IRFM). A second comparison is carried out against the starsspectroscopically investigated by Gratton, Carretta, & Castelli. Itis shown that there is a good agreement between Teff valuesobtained from the IRFM and those from the near-UV continuum, and aremarkable correspondence between observed and synthetic fluxes forstars with 4000 K<=Teff<=6000 K of any metallicity andgravity. These facts suggest that model atmospheres provide an adequatedescription of the near-UV continuum forming region and that theopacities involved are essentially understood.
| The ROSAT Bright Survey: II. Catalogue of all high-galactic latitude RASS sources with PSPC countrate CR > 0.2 s-1
We present a summary of an identification program of the more than 2000X-ray sources detected during the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (Voges et al.1999) at high galactic latitude, |b| > 30degr , with countrate above0.2 s-1. This program, termed the ROSAT Bright Survey RBS, isto more than 99.5% complete. A sub-sample of 931 sources with countrateabove 0.2 s-1 in the hard spectral band between 0.5 and 2.0keV is to 100% identified. The total survey area comprises 20391deg2 at a flux limit of 2.4 x 10-12 ergcm-2 s-1 in the 0.5 - 2.0 keV band. About 1500sources of the complete sample could be identified by correlating theRBS with SIMBAD and the NED. The remaining ~ 500 sources were identifiedby low-resolution optical spectroscopy and CCD imaging utilizingtelescopes at La Silla, Calar Alto, Zelenchukskaya and Mauna Kea. Apartfrom completely untouched sources, catalogued clusters and galaxieswithout published redshift as well as catalogued galaxies with unusualhigh X-ray luminosity were included in the spectroscopic identificationprogram. Details of the observations with an on-line presentation of thefinding charts and the optical spectra will be published separately.Here we summarize our identifications in a table which contains opticaland X-ray information for each source. As a result we present the mostmassive complete sample of X-ray selected AGNs with a total of 669members and a well populated X-ray selected sample of 302 clusters ofgalaxies with redshifts up to 0.70. Three fields studied by us remainwithout optical counterpart (RBS0378, RBS1223, RBS1556). While the firstis a possible X-ray transient, the two latter are isolated neutron starcandidates (Motch et al. 1999, Schwope et al. 1999).
| On X-Ray Variability in Active Binary Stars
We have compared the X-ray emissions of active binary stars observed atvarious epochs by the Einstein and ROSAT satellites in order toinvestigate the nature of their X-ray variability. The primary aim ofthis work is to determine whether or not active binaries exhibitlong-term variations in X-ray emission, perhaps analogous to theobserved cyclic behavior of solar magnetic activity. We find that, whilethe mean level of emission of the sample remains steady, comparison ofdifferent ROSAT observations of the same stars shows significantvariation on timescales <~2 yr, with an ``effective variability''ΔI/I=0.32+/-0.04, where I and ΔI represent the mean emissionand variation from the mean emission, respectively. A comparison of theROSAT All-Sky Survey and later pointed observations with earlierobservations of the same stars carried out with Einstein yields onlymarginal evidence for a larger variation (ΔI/I=0.38+/-0.04 forEinstein vs. ROSAT All-Sky Survey and 0.46+/-0.05 for Einstein vs. ROSATpointed) at these longer timescales (~10 yr), thus indicating thepossible presence of a long-term component to the variability. Whetheror not this long-term component is due to the presence of cyclicvariability cannot be decided on the basis of existing data. However,assuming that this component is analogous to the observed cyclicvariability of the Sun, we find that the relative magnitude of thecyclic component in the ROSAT passband can, at most, be a factor of 4,i.e., I_cyc/I_min<4. This is to be compared with the correspondingbut significantly higher solar value of ~10-10^2 derived from GOES,Yohkoh, and Solrad data. These results are consistent with thesuggestions of earlier studies that a turbulent or distributive dynamomight be responsible for the observed magnetic activity on the mostactive, rapidly rotating stars.
| On the rotation-activity correlation for active binary stars
We present an investigation of rotation-activity correlations usingInternational Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) SWP measurements of the Civemission line at 1550Angstroms for 72 active binary systems. We use astandard stellar evolution code to derive non-empirical Rossby numbers,R_0, for each star in our sample and compare the resulting Civrotation-activity correlation to that found for empirically derivedvalues of the Rossby number and that based on rotation alone. For dwarfstars our values of R_0 do not differ greatly from empirical ones and wefind a corresponding lack of improvement in correlation. Only a marginalimprovement in correlation is found for evolved components in oursample. We discuss possible additional factors, other than rotation orconvection, that may influence the activity levels in active binaries.Our observational data imply, in contrast to the theoretical predictionsof convective motions, that activity is only weakly related to mass inevolved stars. We conclude that current dynamo theory is limited in itsapplication to the study of active stars because of the uncertainty inthe angular velocity-depth profile in stellar interiors and the unknowneffects of binarity and surface gravity.
| Common chromospheres - roundchroms - as a means for the study of binary systems
An independent method based on the concept of common chromospheres -roundchroms - is proposed for the determination of the radii of the maincomponents of RS CVn-type close binary systems. The essence of themethod is in the coincidence of the radius of the main component of thebinary system with the equipotential zero-velocity surface for somevalues of the Jacobi constant. As an illustration, the method is appliedto a sample of 15 RS CVn-type systems, and as a result the revised radiiof the main components in the systems are determined. The mainparameters, particularly the volumes, electron concentrations and massesof the roundchroms, are obtained as well. Empirical dependences of theelectron concentration in the roundchrom, n_e, and of the 2800 Mg iidoublet luminosity, L(Mg ii), on intercomponent distance a werediscovered, the first in the form n_e~a^-0.85 and the second in the formL(Mg ii)~a^1.66. The formation of a roundchrom in close binary systemsis inevitable, and the roundchrom is as essential a physical formationfor binary systems as are the corona and chromosphere for single stars.
| The structure of roundchroms in close binary systems
The determination of common chromospheres - roundchroms - for 32 closebinary systems, all of RS CVn type, is described; the main parameters ofthese roundchroms - volumes, electron concentrations and masses, areestimated. Three types of roundchroms are established according to theirstructure. The empirical relationship between their electronconcentration n_e and intercomponent distance a - n_e = K a^-0.80,discovered earlier, is confirmed by data for over fifty close binarysystems. This law holds promise for the determination of component radiiof close binary systems and some parameters of their roundchroms.
| EUV Emission from RS Canum Venaticorum binaries.
We performed a study of 104 RS CVn systems in the extreme ultraviolet(EUV) using the all-sky survey data obtained by the Extreme UltravioletExplorer (EUVE). The present sample includes several new RS CVndetections; 11 more than in the published EUVE catalogs, and 8 more thanin the ROSAT Wide Field Camera catalog. The ratio of detections tonon-detections remained constant throughout the sky, implying that ourdetections are not limited by the exposure time but are most likelylimited by absorption from the interstellar medium. A general trend ofincreasing Lex/B (50-180Å) flux with decreasing rotational periodis clear. The dwarf systems exhibit a leveling-off for the fasterrotators. In contrast, the evolved systems exhibit no such effect. Forthe RS CVn systems the losses in the EUV represent a smaller fraction ofthe coronal radiative losses, as compared to active late-type dwarfs.
| The X-ray evidence that the 51 Peg companion is a planet
51 Pegasi is a nearby G2--3 V star which is similar to the Sun. Mayor& Queloz (1995) [Natur, 378, 355] have recently found that 51 Peghas sinusoidal radial velocity variations with a period of 4.2 days andamplitude of 59 m/s. The radial velocity, if due to orbital motionaround the system center-of-mass, implies a minimum companion mass of0.47 Jupiter masses, which results from the assumption that theinclination angle of the system is 90 deg from the line of sight.However, because the inclination angle is not directly measured thereremains an uncertainty in the companion mass. In the limit of anear-zero inclination angle the companion could even be a late-typedwarf star. We argue that the low measured X-ray luminosity of the 51Peg system supports the conclusion that the companion is a planet,independent of any assumption about the inclination angle. If 51 Pegwere a binary stellar system with a 4-day orbital period its X-rayemission would be in marked contrast with ALL known binary stellarsystems with similar orbital periods. When compared to the distributionof binary star X-ray luminosities, a system with the 51 Peg X-rayluminosity have an occurrence probability of only 1.7 times 10^-6. Thelow X-ray luminosity also confirms that 51 Peg is a slow rotator basedupon the correlation between X-ray emission and rotational velocity. Wediscuss the lack of synchronization between the 51 Peg orbital androtational periods and calculate model-dependent upper limits on thecompanion mass which also indicate that it is a planet.
| Roundchrom Emissivity in Close Binary Systems
Not Available
| The behaviour of the excess CA II H and K and Hɛ emissions in chromospherically active binaries.
In this work we analyze the behaviour of the excess Ca II H and K andHɛ emissions in a sample of 73 chromospherically active binarysystems (RS CVn and BY Dra classes), of different activity levels andluminosity classes. This sample includes the 53 stars analyzed byFernandez-Figueroa et al. (1994) and the observations of 28 systemsdescribed by Montes et al. (1995c). By using the spectral subtractiontechnique (subtraction of a synthesized stellar spectrum constructedfrom reference stars of spectral type and luminosity class similar tothose of the binary star components) we obtain the active-chromospherecontribution to the Ca II H and K lines in these 73 systems. We havedetermined the excess Ca II H and K emission equivalent widths andconverted them into surface fluxes. The emissions arising from eachcomponent were obtained when it was possible to deblend bothcontributions. We have found that the components of active binaries aregenerally stronger emitters than single active stars for a giveneffective temperature and rotation rate. A slight decline of the excessCa II H and K emissions towards longer rotation periods, P_rot_, andlarger Rossby numbers, R_0_, is found. When we use R_0_ instead ofP_rot_ the scatter is reduced and a saturation at R_0_=~0.3 is observed.A good correlation between the excess Ca II K and Hɛchromospheric emission fluxes has been found. The correlations obtainedbetween the excess Ca II K emission and other activity indicators, (C IVin the transition region, and X-rays in the corona) indicate that theexponents of the power-law relations increase with the formationtemperature of the spectral features.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Dragon |
| Right ascension: | 12h22m11.73s |
| Declination: | +73°14'54.5" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 7.993 |
| Distance: | 43.178 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -455.4 |
| Proper motion Dec: | 183.9 |
| B-T magnitude: | 8.875 |
| V-T magnitude: | 8.066 |
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INHABITED SKY
