New BVI {sub C} photometry of low-mass pleiades stars: Exploring the effects of rotation on broadband colors
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B 1807, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States)
- U.S. Naval Observatory, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001-8521 (United States)
- Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, MC 220-6, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
We present new BVI{sub C} photometry for 350 Pleiades proper motion members with 9 < V ≲ 17. Importantly, our new catalog includes a large number of K- and early M-type stars, roughly doubling the number of low-mass stars with well-calibrated Johnson/Cousins photometry in this benchmark cluster. We combine our new photometry with existing photometry from the literature to define a purely empirical isochrone at Pleiades age (≈100 Myr) extending from V = 9 to 17. We use the empirical isochrone to identify 48 new probable binaries and 14 likely nonmembers. The photometrically identified single stars are compared against their expected positions in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD). At 100 Myr, the mid K and early M stars are predicted to lie above the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) having not yet reached the ZAMS. We find in the B – V versus V CMD that mid K and early M dwarfs are instead displaced below (or blueward of) the ZAMS. Using the stars' previously reported rotation periods, we find a highly statistically significant correlation between rotation period and CMD displacement, in the sense that the more rapidly rotating stars have the largest displacements in the B – V CMD.
- OSTI ID:
- 22342283
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 148, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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