Exploring the M-dwarf Luminosity - Temperature - Radius Relationships using Gaia DR2 (article)
Morrell, SAF; Naylor, T
Date: 13 August 2019
Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP) / Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher DOI
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Abstract
There is growing evidence that M-dwarf stars suffer radius inflation when compared to theoretical models, suggesting that models are missing some key physics required to completely
describe stars at effective temperatures (TSED) less than about 4000K. The advent of Gaia DR2
distances finally makes available large datasets to determine ...
There is growing evidence that M-dwarf stars suffer radius inflation when compared to theoretical models, suggesting that models are missing some key physics required to completely
describe stars at effective temperatures (TSED) less than about 4000K. The advent of Gaia DR2
distances finally makes available large datasets to determine the nature and extent of this effect.
We employ an all-sky sample, comprising of >15 000 stars, to determine empirical relationships between luminosity, temperature and radius. This is accomplished using only geometric
distances and multiwave-band photometry, by utilising a modified spectral energy distribution
fitting method. The radii we measure show an inflation of 3 − 7% compared to models, but no
more than a 1−2% intrinsic spread in the inflated sequence. We show that we are currently able
to determine M-dwarf radii to an accuracy of 2.4% using our method. However, we determine
that this is limited by the precision of metallicity measurements, which contribute 1.7% to the
measured radius scatter. We also present
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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