THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXXVII. THE MASS–LUMINOSITY RELATION FOR MAIN-SEQUENCE M DWARFS
- McDonald Observatory, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
- RECONS Institute, Chambersburg, PA 17201 (United States)
- Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States)
- Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, Atlanta GA 30302 (United States)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Institiution of Washington, Washington, DC 20005 (United States)
- Spacecraft System Engineering Services, P.O. Box 91, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701 (United States)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Conceptual Analytics, LLC, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
We present a mass–luminosity relation (MLR) for red dwarfs spanning a range of masses from 0.62 M{sub ⊙} to the end of the stellar main sequence at 0.08 M{sub ⊙}. The relation is based on 47 stars for which dynamical masses have been determined, primarily using astrometric data from Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) 3 and 1r, white-light interferometers on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and radial velocity data from McDonald Observatory. For our HST/FGS sample of 15 binaries, component mass errors range from 0.4% to 4.0% with a median error of 1.8%. With these and masses from other sources, we construct a V-band MLR for the lower main sequence with 47 stars and a K-band MLR with 45 stars with fit residuals half of those of the V band. We use GJ 831 AB as an example, obtaining an absolute trigonometric parallax, π {sub abs} = 125.3 ± 0.3 mas, with orbital elements yielding M{sub A}=0.270±0.004 M{sub ⊙} and M{sub B}=0.145±0.002 M{sub ⊙}. The mass precision rivals that derived for eclipsing binaries. A remaining major task is the interpretation of the intrinsic cosmic scatter in the observed MLR for low-mass stars in terms of physical effects. In the meantime, useful mass values can be estimated from the MLR for the ubiquitous red dwarfs that account for 75% of all stars, with applications ranging from the characterization of exoplanet host stars to the contribution of red dwarfs to the mass of the universe.
- OSTI ID:
- 22862847
- Journal Information:
- The Astronomical Journal (Online), Vol. 152, Issue 5; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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