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Exploring the Frequency of Close-in Jovian Planets around M Dwarfs
We discuss our high-precision radial velocity results of a sample of 90M dwarfs observed with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the Harlan J.Smith 2.7 m Telescope at McDonald Observatory, as well as the ESO VLTand the Keck I telescopes, within the context of the overall frequencyof Jupiter-mass planetary companions to main-sequence stars. None of thestars in our sample show variability indicative of a giant planet in ashort-period orbit, with a<=1 AU. We estimate an upper limit of thefrequency f of close-in Jovian planets around M dwarfs as <1.27% (atthe 1 σ confidence level). Furthermore, we determine that theefficiency of our survey in noticing planets in circular orbits is 98%for companions with msini>3.8MJ and a<=0.7 AU. Foreccentric orbits (e=0.6) the survey completeness is 95% for all planetswith msini>3.5MJ and a<=0.7 AU. Our results pointtoward a generally lower frequency of close-in Jovian planets for Mdwarfs as compared to FGK-type stars. This is an important piece ofinformation for our understanding of the process of planet formation asa function of stellar mass.Based on data collected with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which isoperated by McDonald Observatory on behalf of the University of Texas atAustin, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University,Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, andGeorg-August-Universität Göttingen. Also based on observationscollected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile (ESO programs65.L-0428, 66.C-0446, 267.C-5700, 68.C-0415, 69.C-0722, 70.C-0044,71.C-0498, 072.C-0495, 173.C-0606). Additional data were obtained at theW. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnershipamong the California Institute of Technology, the University ofCalifornia, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), and with the McDonald Observatory Harlan J. Smith 2.7 mtelescope.
| A Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph Spectral Sequence of M, L, and T Dwarfs
We present a low-resolution (R≡λ/Δλ~90),5.5-38 μm spectral sequence of a sample of M, L, and T dwarfsobtained with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on board the Spitzer SpaceTelescope. The spectra exhibit prominent absorption bands ofH2O at 6.27 μm, CH4 at 7.65 μm, andNH3 at 10.5 μm and are relatively featureless atλ>~15 μm. Three spectral indices that measure the strengthsof these bands are presented; H2O absorption features arepresent throughout the MLT sequence, while the CH4 andNH3 bands first appear at roughly the L/T transition.Although the spectra are, in general, qualitatively well matched bysynthetic spectra that include the formation of spatially homogeneoussilicate and iron condensate clouds, the spectra of the mid-type Ldwarfs show an unexpected flattening from roughly 9 to 11 μm. Wehypothesize that this may be a result of a population of small silicategrains that are not predicted in the cloud models. The spectrum of thepeculiar T6 dwarf 2MASS J0937+2931 is suppressed from 5.5 to 7.5 μmrelative to typical T6 dwarfs and may be a consequence of its mildlymetal-poor/high surface gravity atmosphere. Finally, we computebolometric luminosities of a subsample of the M, L, and T dwarfs bycombining the IRS spectra with previously published 0.6-4.1 μmspectra and find good agreement with the values of Golimowski et al.,who use L'- and M'-band photometry to account forthe flux emitted at λ>2.5 μm.
| Ca II H and K Chromospheric Emission Lines in Late-K and M Dwarfs
We have measured the profiles of the Ca II H and K chromosphericemission lines in 147 main-sequence stars of spectral type M5-K7 (masses0.30-0.55 Msolar) using multiple high-resolution spectraobtained during 6 years with the HIRES spectrometer on the Keck Itelescope. Remarkably, the average FWHM, equivalent widths, and lineluminosities of Ca II H and K increase by a factor of 3 with increasingstellar mass over this small range of stellar masses. We fit the Ca II Hand K lines with a double-Gaussian model to represent both thechromospheric emission and the non-LTE central absorption. Most of thesample stars display a central absorption that is typically redshiftedby ~0.1 km s-1 relative to the emission. This implies thatthe higher level, lower density chromospheric material has a smalleroutward velocity (or higher inward velocity) by 0.1 km s-1than the lower level material in the chromosphere, but the nature ofthis velocity gradient remains unknown. The FWHM of the Ca II H and Kemission lines increase with stellar luminosity, reminiscent of theWilson-Bappu effect in FGK-type stars. Both the equivalent widths andFWHM exhibit modest temporal variability in individual stars. At a givenvalue of MV, stars exhibit a spread in both the equivalentwidth and FWHM of Ca II H and K, due both to a spread in fundamentalstellar parameters, including rotation rate, age, and possiblymetallicity, and to the spread in stellar mass at a given MV.The K line is consistently wider than the H line, as expected, and itscentral absorption is more redshifted, indicating that the H and K linesform at slightly different heights in the chromosphere where thevelocities are slightly different. The equivalent width of Hαcorrelates with Ca II H and K only for stars having Ca II equivalentwidths above ~2 Å, suggesting the existence of a magneticthreshold above which the lower and upper chromospheres become thermallycoupled.Based on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which isoperated jointly by the University of California and the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology. Keck time has been granted by both NASA and theUniversity of California.
| Disc orientations in pre-main-sequence multiple systems. A study in southern star formation regions
Classical T Tauri stars are encircled by accretion discs most of thetime unresolved by conventional imaging observation. However, numericalsimulations show that unresolved aperture linear polarimetry can be usedto extract information about the geometry of the immediate circumstellarmedium that scatter the starlight. Monin et al. (1998, A&A, 339,113) previously suggested that polarimetry can be used to trace therelative orientation of discs in young binary systems in order to shedlight on the stellar and planet formation process. In this paper, wereport on new VLT/FORS1 optical linear polarisation measurements of 23southern binaries spanning a range of separation from 0.8'' to 10''. Ineach field, the polarisation of the central binary is extracted, as wellas the polarisation of nearby stars in order to estimate the localinterstellar polarisation. We find that, in general, the linearpolarisation vectors of individual components in binary systems tend tobe parallel to each other. The amplitude of their polarisations are alsocorrelated. These findings are in agreement with our previous work andextend the trend to smaller separations. They are also similar to otherstudies, e.g., Donar et al. (1999, A&AS, 195, 7904), Jensen et al.(2000, IAUS, 200, 85; 2004, ApJ, 600, 789), Wolf et al. (2001, Pre-mainsequence binaries with aligned discs?, in The formation of Binary Stars,ed. H. Zinnecker, & R. D. Mathieu, IAU Symp., 200, 295). However, wealso find a few systems showing large differences in polarisation level,possibly indicating different inclinations to the line-of-sight fortheir discs.
| The χ Factor: Determining the Strength of Activity in Low-Mass Dwarfs
We describe a new, distance-independent method for calculating themagnetic activity strength in low-mass dwarfs,LHα/Lbol. Using a well-observed sample ofnearby stars and cool standards spanning spectral type M0.5 to L0, wecompute χ, the ratio between the continuum flux near Hα andthe bolometric flux, fλ6560/fbol. Thisratio can be multiplied by the measured equivalent width of the Hαemission line to yield LHα/Lbol. We provideχ values for all objects in our sample, and also fits to χ as afunction of color and average values by spectral type. This method wasused by West et al. to examine trends in magnetic activity strength inlow-mass stars.
| Near-Ultraviolet Spectra of Nine M Dwarf Stars, or a Second Effort to Find Optical Coronal Lines in M Dwarf Stars
We have searched for optical coronal lines in the 3100-3700 Åregion of eight M dwarf stars with rather low levels of activity. Thisbrief survey supplements a similar search in 15 active stars publishedin 1991. No coronal lines could be identified. However, the emissionspectra including lines of H I, He I, Ca II, Ca I, Si I, and Fe I aredescribed and illustrated. Radial velocities of the emission lines showno systematic differences from the stellar absorption lines. Coronaewith temperatures similar to those in the solar corona seem to be rareamong the M dwarfs, although at least one example has been found bySchmitt & Wichmann.
| Chromospheric Ca II Emission in Nearby F, G, K, and M Stars
We present chromospheric Ca II H and K activity measurements, rotationperiods, and ages for ~1200 F, G, K, and M type main-sequence stars from~18,000 archival spectra taken at Keck and Lick Observatories as a partof the California and Carnegie Planet Search Project. We have calibratedour chromospheric S-values against the Mount Wilson chromosphericactivity data. From these measurements we have calculated medianactivity levels and derived R'HK, stellar ages,and rotation periods from general parameterizations for 1228 stars,~1000 of which have no previously published S-values. We also presentprecise time series of activity measurements for these stars.Based on observations obtained at Lick Observatory, which is operated bythe University of California, and on observations obtained at the W. M.Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the University ofCalifornia and the California Institute of Technology. The KeckObservatory was made possible by the generous financial support of theW. M. Keck Foundation.
| Classification of Spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory PHT-S Database
We have classified over 1500 infrared spectra obtained with the PHT-Sspectrometer aboard the Infrared Space Observatory according to thesystem developed for the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) spectra byKraemer et al. The majority of these spectra contribute to subclassesthat are either underrepresented in the SWS spectral database or containsources that are too faint, such as M dwarfs, to have been observed byeither the SWS or the Infrared Astronomical Satellite Low ResolutionSpectrometer. There is strong overall agreement about the chemistry ofobjects observed with both instruments. Discrepancies can usually betraced to the different wavelength ranges and sensitivities of theinstruments. Finally, a large subset of the observations (~=250 spectra)exhibit a featureless, red continuum that is consistent with emissionfrom zodiacal dust and suggest directions for further analysis of thisserendipitous measurement of the zodiacal background.Based on observations with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), aEuropean Space Agency (ESA) project with instruments funded by ESAMember States (especially the Principle Investigator countries: France,Germany, Netherlands, and United Kingdom) and with the participation ofthe Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
| NEXXUS: A comprehensive ROSAT survey of coronal X-ray emission among nearby solar-like stars
We present a final summary of all ROSAT X-ray observations of nearbystars. All available ROSAT observations with the ROSAT PSPC, HRI and WFChave been matched with the CNS4 catalog of nearby stars and the resultsgathered in the Nearby X-ray and XUV-emitting Stars data base, availablevia www from the Home Page of the Hamburger Sternwarte at the URLhttp://www.hs.uni-hamburg.de/DE/For/Gal/Xgroup/nexxus. Newvolume-limited samples of F/G-stars (dlim = 14 pc), K-stars(dlim = 12 pc), and M-stars (dlim = 6 pc) areconstructed within which detection rates of more than 90% are obtained;only one star (GJ 1002) remains undetected in a pointed follow-upobservation. F/G-stars, K-stars and M-stars have indistinguishablesurface X-ray flux distributions, and the lower envelope of the observeddistribution at FX ≈ 104 erg/cm2/sis the X-ray flux level observed in solar coronal holes. Large amplitudevariations in X-ray flux are uncommon for solar-like stars, but maybemore common for stars near the bottom of the main sequence; a largeamplitude flare is reported for the M star LHS 288. Long term X-raylight curves are presented for α Cen A/B and Gl 86, showingvariations on time scales of weeks and demonstrating that α Cen Bis a flare star.Tables 1-3 are also 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/417/651
| Library of flux-calibrated echelle spectra of southern late-type dwarfs with different activity levels
We present Echelle spectra of 91 late-type dwarfs, of spectral typesfrom F to M and of different levels of chromospheric activity, obtainedwith the 2.15 m telescope of the CASLEO Observatory located in theArgentinean Andes. Our observations range from 3890 to 6690 Å, ata spectral resolution from 0.141 to 0.249 Å per pixel(R=λ/δ λ ≈ 26 400). The observations were fluxcalibrated with the aid of long slit spectra. A version of thecalibrated spectra is available via the World Wide Web.Table 2 is also available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/414/699The spectra are available as FITS and ascii-files at the URL:http://www.iafe.uba.ar/cincunegui/spectra/Table2.html. They are alsoavailable 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/414/699. When convertingthe fits to ascii, the spectra were oversampled to a constant δλ ≈ 0.15 Å.Table 2 is also available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous
| Target Selection for SETI. II. Tycho-2 Dwarfs, Old Open Clusters, and the Nearest 100 Stars
We present the full target list and prioritization algorithm developedfor use by the microwave search for technological signals at the SETIInstitute. We have included the Catalog of Nearby Habitable StellarSystems (HabCat, described in Paper I), all of the nearest 100 stars and14 old open clusters. This is further augmented by a subset of theTycho-2 catalog based on reduced proper motions, and this larger catalogshould routinely provide at least three target stars within the largeprimary field of view of the Allen Telescope Array. The algorithm forprioritizing objects in the full target list includes scoring based onthe subset category of each target (i.e., HabCat, cluster, Tycho-2, ornearest 100), its distance (if known), and its proximity to the Sun onthe color-magnitude diagram.
| 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.
| 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
| Extrasolar planets around HD 196050, HD 216437 and HD 160691
We report precise Doppler measurements of the stars HD 216437, HD 196050and HD 160691 obtained with the Anglo-Australian Telescope using theUCLES spectrometer together with an iodine cell as part of theAnglo-Australian Planet Search. Our measurements reveal periodicKeplerian velocity variations that we interpret as evidence for planetsin orbit around these solar type stars. HD 216437 has a period of 1294+/- 250 d, a semi-amplitude of 38 +/- 3 m s-1 and aneccentricity of 0.33 +/- 0.09. The minimum (M sin i) mass of thecompanion is 2.1 +/- 0.3 MJUP and the semi-major axis is 2.4+/- 0.5 au. HD 196050 has a period of 1300 +/- 230 d, a semi-amplitudeof 49 +/- 8 m s-1 and an eccentricity of 0.19 +/- 0.09. Theminimum mass of the companion is 2.8 +/- 0.5 MJUP and thesemi-major axis is 2.4 +/- 0.5 au. We also report further observationsof the metal-rich planet bearing star HD 160691. Our new solutionconfirms the previously reported planet and shows a trend indicating asecond, longer-period companion. These discoveries add to the growingnumbers of mildly eccentric, long-period extrasolar planets aroundmetal-rich Sun-like stars.
| The radii and spectra of the nearest stars
We discuss direct measurements of the radii of 36 stars located closerthan 25 parsecs to the Sun. We present the data on 307 radii and 326spectral types and luminosity classes for the nearest stars locatedinside the sphere with a radius of 10 parsecs.
| UBV(RI)C photometry of Hipparcos red stars
We present homogeneous and standardized UBV(RI)C photometryfor nearly 550 M stars selected from the Hipparcos satellite data baseusing the following selection criteria: lack of obvious variability (noHipparcos variability flag); δ<+10°(V-I)>1.7 and Vmagnitude fainter than about 7.6. Comparisons are made between thecurrent photometry, other ground-based data sets and Hipparcosphotometry. We use linear discriminant analysis to determine aluminosity segregation criterion for late-type stars, and principalcomponent analysis to study the statistical structure of the colourindices and to calibrate absolute magnitude in terms of (V-I) for thedwarf stars. Various methods are used to determine the mean absolutemagnitude of the giant stars. We find 10 dwarf stars, apparentlypreviously unrecognized (prior to Hipparcos) as being within 25pc,including five within 20pc.
| 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.
| Comparison of Stellar Orbits in Various Models of the Galaxy
Not Available
| Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable 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/qcar?J/A+A/367/521
| A systematic analysis of X-ray variability of dM stars
We have systematically analyzed X-ray variability of dM stars. Our database is the sample of all dM stars listed in the CNS3 (Gliese &Jahreiss 1991) catalog which have been observed with the ROSAT PSPC. Ourdata sample includes 86 pointed observations of 55 distinct stars ormultiple systems. A large fraction of stars shows significantvariations, regardless of their quiescent flux. Variability is detectedon all observable time scales. The amplitudes of these variations areindependent of both stellar X-ray and visual luminosity. Compared tosolar X-ray variability properties our results suggest that theamplitude distribution of X-ray variability in dM stars is consistentwith the analogous distribution for solar flares. We discuss the effectof variability on the spread observed in the X-ray luminosity functionof M stars. The comparison of our data with those obtained with EinsteinIPC shows that variations on time scales shorter than a few month aremore common than long term variations comparable to, e.g., the 11 yearssolar cycle.
| Catalogue and bibliography of the UV Cet-type flare stars and related objects in the solar vicinity
This new catalogue of flare stars includes 463 objects. It containsastrometric, spectral and photometric data as well as information on theinfrared, radio and X-ray properties and general stellar parameters.From the total reference list of about 3400 articles, partial listsselected by objects, authors, key words and by any pairs of thesecriteria can be obtained Tables 1, 2 and 3 are only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html.
| Astrometric radial velocities. I. Non-spectroscopic methods for measuring stellar radial velocity
High-accuracy astrometry permits the determination of not only stellartangential motion, but also the component along the line-of-sight. Suchnon-spectroscopic (i.e. astrometric) radial velocities are independentof stellar atmospheric dynamics, spectral complexity and variability, aswell as of gravitational redshift. Three methods are analysed: (1)changing annual parallax, (2) changing proper motion and (3) changingangular extent of a moving group of stars. All three have significantpotential in planned astrometric projects. Current accuracies are stillinadequate for the first method, while the second is marginally feasibleand is here applied to 16 stars. The third method reaches high accuracy(<1 km s(-1) ) already with present data, although for some clustersan accuracy limit is set by uncertainties in the cluster expansion rate.Based (in part) on observations by the ESA Hipparcos satellite
| The ROSAT all-sky survey catalogue of the nearby stars
We present X-ray data for all entries of the Third Catalogue of NearbyStars \cite[(Gliese & Jahreiss 1991)]{gli91} that have been detectedas X-ray sources in the ROSAT all-sky survey. The catalogue contains1252 entries yielding an average detection rate of 32.9 percent. Inaddition to count rates, source detection parameters, hardness ratios,and X-ray fluxes we also list X-ray luminosities derived from Hipparcosparallaxes. Catalogue also available at CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| Supplementary southern standards for UBV(RI)c photometry
We present UBV(RI)c photometry for 80 southern red and blue stars foruse as additional standards. The data are tied to the Johnson UBV andCousins (RI)c systems and extend the range of the available stars forcolor equation determination, especially in (U-B) for blue stars and(V-R) and (V-I) for red stars. Comparisons with published data are madeand particularly good agreement is found with Bessell for the red(Gliese) stars.
| ISOPHOT S observations of M dwarfs: implications for the vertical temperature stratification.
Not Available
| Astrometric positions of stars with high proper motions in the Southern Hemisphere
Several stars with large proper motions, cited by W.J. Luyten, wereincluded in the preliminary programme for the HIPPARCOS mission. Whenperforming preparatory measurements of plates, difficulties wereencountered in identifying certain of these stars when relying only onpublished coordinates. We have taken advantage of this work whichrelates to the southern sky in order to determine the astrometricposition of the greatest possible number of these objects, even forthose which were not included in the programme. Catalogue 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/Abstract.html
| A search for companions to nearby southern M dwarfs with near-infrared speckle interferometry.
We searched the 9 M-dwarf primaries nearer than 5pc and south ofdeclination δ=-30^o^ for companions with separations 1-10AU andfound none. Taken together with the 25 northern primaries studied byHenry and McCarthy (1990ApJ...350..334H) the fraction of binaries andtriples within the now complete sample of all M dwarfs within 5pc is9/34=26+/-9%, and the average number of companions per system is0.32+/-0.10. This is lower by 2σ than the observed multiplicityfraction of 43+/-5%, and companions per system of 0.49+/-0.05 in thesample of nearby solar-type main sequence stars. It is also much lowerthan the extrapolated binary fraction among young stars in Taurus. Wediscuss the implications of this finding.
| The FeH Wing-Ford Band in Spectra of M Stars
We study the FeH Wing-Ford band at 9850--10200 A by fitting syntheticspectra to the observations of M stars, employing recent modelatmospheres. On the basis of the spectral synthesis, we analyze thedependence of the band upon atmospheric parameters. FeH lines are a verysensitive surface gravity indicator, being stronger in dwarfs. They arealso sensitive to metallicity. The blending with CN lines, which arestronger in giants, does not affect the response of the Wing-Ford bandto surface gravity at low resolution (or high velocity dispersions),because CN lines, which are spread all along the spectrum, are smearedout at convolutions of FWHM >~ 3 A. We conclude that the Wing-Fordband is a suitable dwarf/giant indicator for the study of compositestellar populations.
| Coronal properties of nearby old disk and halo dM stars.
ROSAT X-ray (PSPC) and EUV (WFC) observations of a sample of 12 nearbyHalo and Old-Disk low mass stars have been analyzed to determine theiremission levels, properties of their coronal spectra and to characterizetheir temporal variations on time scales from hours to ten years. Thelight curves of the old-disk stars of our sample with the highest countstatistics, show that variability of a factor two on a time scale of afew thousands of seconds is a common property of old-disk stars. Thecoronal emission of GJ 191, the only halo star with enough counts tomake the time analysis feasible, shows significant variations on a timescale of six months. The time resolved spectral analysis of the mostintense stars shows that their coronal emission is consistent with a twotemperature model with (approximately) constant values of thetemperatures along the entire observation, while the observedvariability can be explained by changes in their emission measuredistributions. We find that the emission measures of the two componentschange coherently during the observations. For all ten detected stars wehave computed hardness ratio and X-ray luminosity. While our old-diskstars fit well in the body of the distribution outlined by a completevolume limited sample of dM and dK stars within 7pc (Schmitt et al.1995), the halo stars tend to occupy the softest and weakest envelopedefined by population I low-mass stars.
| ISOPHOT S Observations of 3 M Dwarfs
The M dwarfs GL 832 (spectral type M2), GL 887 (M1), and GL 1 (M2) havebeen observed with the ISOPHOT spectrophotometers in the range2.5-12µm at high signal-to-noise ratios. Since optical and groundbased near-infrared data are also available, more than 95 % of the totalflux is now covered for these objects. It is seen that between 2.5µm and about 9 µm the fluxes fall off faster than aRayleigh-Jeans tail of a black body distribution and that for longerwavelengths the decline is smaller. This indicates that the ISO data areprobing the region around the temperature minimum and that our starshave some kind of chromosphere although Hα emission is notobserved. Comparison with a model indicates that the features areconsiderably weaker than predicted.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Sculpteur |
| Right ascension: | 00h05m24.43s |
| Declination: | -37°21'26.5" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 8.605 |
| Distance: | 4.361 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | 5639.4 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -2340.9 |
| B-T magnitude: | 10.417 |
| V-T magnitude: | 8.755 |
Catalogs and designations:
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