Adric R. Riedel

BAYESIAN ANALYSIS TO IDENTIFY NEW STAR CANDIDATES IN NEARBY YOUNG STELLAR KINEMATIC GROUPS

We present a new method based on a Bayesian analysis to identify new members of nearby young kinematic groups. The analysis minimally takes into account the position, proper motion, magnitude, and color of a star, but other observables can be readily added (e.g., radial velocity, distance). We use this method to find new young low-mass stars in the β Pictoris and AB Doradus moving groups and in the TW Hydrae, Tucana-Horologium, Columba, Carina, and Argus associations. Starting from a sample of 758 mid-K to mid-M (K5V-M5V) stars showing youth indicators such as Hα and X-ray emission, our analysis yields 214 new highly probable low-mass members of the kinematic groups analyzed. One is in TW Hydrae, 37 in β Pictoris, 17 in Tucana-Horologium, 20 in Columba, 6 in Carina, 50 in Argus, 32 in AB Doradus, and the remaining 51 candidates are likely young but have an ambiguous membership to more than one association. The false alarm rate for new candidates is estimated to be 5% for β Pictoris and TW Hydrae, 10% for Tucana-Horologium, Columba, Carina, and Argus, and 14% for AB Doradus. Our analysis confirms the membership of 58 stars proposed in the literature. Firm membership confirmation of our new candidates will require measurement of their radial velocity (predicted by our analysis), parallax, and lithium 6708 A equivalent width. We have initiated these follow-up observations for a number of candidates, and we have identified two stars (2MASSJ01112542+1526214, 2MASSJ05241914-1601153) as very strong candidate members of the β Pictoris moving group and one strong candidate member (2MASSJ05332558-5117131) of the Tucana-Horologium association; these three stars have radial velocity measurements confirming their membership and lithium detections consistent with young age.

Direct-imaging discovery of a 12–14 Jupiter-mass object orbiting a young binary system of very low-mass stars

Context. Though only a handful of extrasolar planets have been discovered via direct imaging, each of these discoveries had tremendous impact on our understanding of planetary formation, stellar formation and cool atmosphere physics. Aims. Since many of these newly imaged giant planets orbit massive A or even B stars we investigated whether giant planets could be found orbiting low-mass stars at large separations. Methods. We have been conducting an adaptive optic imaging survey to search for planetary-mass companions of young M dwarfs of the solar neigbourhood, to probe dierent initial conditions of planetary formation. Results. We report here the direct imaging discovery of 2MASS J01033563-5515561ABb, a 12-14 MJup companion at a projected separation of 84 AU from a pair of young late M stars, with which it shares proper motion. We also detected a Keplerian-compatible orbital motion. Conclusions. This young L-type object at planet/brown dwarf mass boundary is the rst ever imaged around a binary system at a separation compatible with formation in a disc.

BANYAN. IV. Fundamental parameters of low-mass star candidates in nearby young stellar kinematic groups - Isochronal Age determination using Magnetic evolutionary models

Based on high resolution optical spectra obtained with ESPaDOnS at CFHT, we determine fundamental parameters (\Teff, R, \Lbol, \logg\ and metallicity) for 59 candidate members of nearby young kinem ...

ASTROPHYSICAL PARAMETERS AND HABITABLE ZONE OF THE EXOPLANET HOSTING STAR GJ 581

GJ 581 is an M dwarf host of a multiplanet system. We use long-baseline interferometric measurements from the CHARA Array, coupled with trigonometric parallax information, to directly determine its physical radius to be 0.299 ± 0.010 R_☉. Literature photometry data are used to perform spectral energy distribution fitting in order to determine GJ 581s effective surface temperature T_(EFF) = 3498 ± 56 K and its luminosity L = 0.01205 ± 0.00024 L_☉. From these measurements, we recompute the location and extent of the systems habitable zone and conclude that two of the planets orbiting GJ 581, planets d and g, spend all or part of their orbit within or just on the edge of the habitable zone.

THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXXIII. PARALLAX RESULTS FROM THE CTIOPI 0.9 m PROGRAM: TRIGONOMETRIC PARALLAXES OF NEARBY LOW-MASS ACTIVE AND YOUNG SYSTEMS

We present basic observational data and association membership analysis for 45 young and active low-mass stellar systems from the ongoing RECONS photometry and astrometry program at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Most of these systems have saturated X-ray emission (log(Lx/Lbol) > -3.5) based on X-ray fluxes from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, and many are significantly more luminous than main-sequence stars of comparable color. We present parallaxes and proper motions, Johnson-Kron-Cousins VRI photometry, and multiplicity observations from the CTIOPI program on the CTIO 0.9m telescope. To this we add low-resolution optical spectroscopy and line measurements from the CTIO 1.5m telescope, and interferometric binary measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensors. We also incorporate data from published sources: JHKs photometry from the 2MASS point source catalog; X-ray data from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey; and radial velocities from literature sources. Within the sample of 45 systems, we identify 21 candidate low-mass pre-main-sequence members of nearby associations, including members of beta Pictoris, TW Hydrae, Argus, AB Doradus, two ambiguous 30 Myr old systems, and one object that may be a member of the Ursa Major moving group. Of the 21 candidate young systems, 14 are newly identified as a result of this work, and six of those are within 25 parsecs of the Sun.

THE CHARA ARRAY ANGULAR DIAMETER OF HR 8799 FAVORS PLANETARY MASSES FOR ITS IMAGED COMPANIONS

HR 8799 is an hF0 mA5 γ Doradus-, λ Bootis-, Vega-type star best known for hosting four directly imaged candidate planetary companions. Using the CHARA Array interferometer, we measure HR 8799s limb-darkened angular diameter to be 0.342 ± 0.008 mas (an error of only 2%). By combining our measurement with the stars parallax and photometry from the literature, we greatly improve upon previous estimates of its fundamental parameters, including stellar radius (1.44 ± 0.06 R_☉), effective temperature (7193 ± 87 K, consistent with F0), luminosity (5.05 ± 0.29 L_☉), and the extent of the habitable zone (HZ; 1.62-3.32 AU). These improved stellar properties permit much more precise comparisons with stellar evolutionary models, from which a mass and age can be determined, once the metallicity of the star is known. Considering the observational properties of other λ Bootis stars and the indirect evidence for youth of HR 8799, we argue that the internal abundance, and what we refer to as the effective abundance, is most likely near solar. Finally, using the Yonsei-Yale evolutionary models with uniformly scaled solar-like abundances, we estimate HR 8799s mass and age considering two possibilities: 1.516^(+0.038)_(–0.024) M_☉ and 33^(+7)_(–13.2) Myr if the star is contracting toward the zero-age main sequence or 1.513^(+0.023)_(–0.024_ M_☉ and 90^(+381)_(–50) Myr if it is expanding from it. This improved estimate of HR 8799s age with realistic uncertainties provides the best constraints to date on the masses of its orbiting companions, and strongly suggests they are indeed planets. They nevertheless all appear to orbit well outside the HZ of this young star.

THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXX. FOMALHAUT C

LP 876-10 is a nearby active M4 dwarf in Aquarius at a distance of 7.6 pc. The star is a new addition to the 10 pc census, with a parallax measured via the REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) astrometric survey on the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System’s 0.9 m telescope. We demonstrate that the astrometry, radial velocity, and photometric data for LP 876-10 are consistent with the star being a third bound stellar component to the Fomalhaut multiple system, despite the star lying nearly 6 ◦ away from Fomalhaut A in the sky. The three-dimensional separation of LP 876-10 from Fomalhaut is only 0.77 ± 0.01 pc, and 0.987 ± 0.006 pc from TW PsA (Fomalhaut B), well within the estimated tidal radius of the Fomalhaut system (1.9 pc). LP 87610 shares the motion of Fomalhaut within ∼ 1k m s −1 , and we estimate an interloper probability of ∼10 −5 . Neither our echelle spectroscopy nor astrometry are able to confirm the close companion to LP 876-10 reported in the Washington Double Star Catalog (WSI 138). We argue that the Castor Moving Group to which the Fomalhaut system purportedly belongs, is likely to be a dynamical stream, and hence membership to the group does not provide useful age constraints for group members. LP 876-10 (Fomalhaut C) has now risen from obscurity to become a rare example of a field M dwarf with well-constrained age (440 ± 40 Myr) and metallicity. Besides harboring a debris disk system and candidate planet, Fomalhaut now has two of the widest known stellar companions.

The Solar Neighborhood. XXXII. The Hydrogen Burning Limit

We construct a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for the stellar/substellar boundary based on a sample of 63 objects ranging in spectral type from M6V to L4. We report newly observed VRI photometry for all 63 objects and new trigonometric parallaxes for 37 objects. The remaining 26 objects have trigonometric parallaxes from the literature. We combine our optical photometry and trigonometric parallaxes with 2MASS and WISE photometry and employ a novel spectral energy distribution fitting algorithm to determine effective temperatures, bolometric luminosities, and radii. Our uncertainties range from ~20?K to ~150?K in temperature, ~0.01 to ~0.06 in log (L/L ?) and ~3% to ~10% in radius. We check our methodology by comparing our calculated radii to radii directly measured via long baseline optical interferometry. We find evidence for the local minimum in the radius-temperature and radius-luminosity trends that signals the end of the stellar main sequence and the start of the brown dwarf sequence at T eff ~ 2075 K, log (L/L ?) ~ ?3.9, and (R/R ?) ~ 0.086. The existence of this local minimum is predicted by evolutionary models, but at temperatures ~400?K cooler. The minimum radius happens near the locus of 2MASS?J0523?1403, an L2.5 dwarf with V ? K = 9.42. We make qualitative arguments as to why the effects of the recent revision in solar abundances accounts for the discrepancy between our findings and the evolutionary models. We also report new color-absolute magnitude relations for optical and infrared colors which are useful for estimating photometric distances. We study the optical variability of all 63 targets and find an overall variability fraction of 36% at a threshold of 15?mmag in the I band, which is in agreement with previous studies.

THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXVI. AP Col: THE CLOSEST (8.4 pc) PRE-MAIN-SEQUENCE STAR

We present the results of a multi-technique investigation of the M4.5Ve flare star AP Col, which we discover to be the nearest pre-main-sequence star. These include astrometric data from the CTIO 0.9 m, from which we derive a proper motion of 342.0 ± 0.5 mas yr −1 , a trigonometric parallax of 119.21 ± 0.98 mas (8.39 ± 0.07 pc), and photometry and photometric variability at optical wavelengths. We also provide spectroscopic data, including radial velocity (22.4 ± 0.3 km s −1 ), lithium equivalent width (EW) (0.28 ± 0.02 A), Hα EW (−6.0 to −35 A), v sin i (11 ± 1k m s −1 ), and gravity indicators from the Siding Spring 2.3 m WiFeS, Lick 3 m Hamilton echelle, and Keck-I HIRES echelle spectrographs. The combined observations demonstrate that AP Col is the closer of only two known systems within 10 pc of the Sun younger than 100 Myr. Given its space motion and apparent age of 12‐50 Myr, AP Col is likely a member of the recently proposed ∼40 Myr old Argus/IC 2391 Association.

THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXII. PARALLAX RESULTS FROM THE CTIOPI 0.9 m PROGRAM: TRIGONOMETRIC PARALLAXES OF 64 NEARBY SYSTEMS WITH 0.″5 ⩽μ⩽ 1.″0 yr–1 (SLOWMO SAMPLE)

We present trigonometric parallaxes of 64 stellar systems with proper motions between 05 yr?1 and 10 yr?1 from the ongoing Research Consortium On Nearby Stars parallax program at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. All of the systems are south of decl. =+30, and 58 had no previous trigonometric parallaxes. In addition to parallaxes for the systems, we present proper motions, Johnson-Kron-Cousins VRI photometry, variability measurements, and spectral types. Nine of the systems are multiple; we present results for their components, three of which are new astrometric detections. Of the 64 systems, 56 are within 25?pc of the Sun and 52 of those are in the southern hemisphere, comprising 5.7% of the total number of known southern 25?pc systems.