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Reliability Checks on the Indo-US Stellar Spectral Library Using Artificial Neural Networks and Principal Component Analysis
The Indo-US coudé feed stellar spectral library (CFLIB) madeavailable to the astronomical community recently by Valdes et al. (2004,ApJS, 152, 251) contains spectra of 1273 stars in the spectral region3460 to 9464Å at a high resolution of 1Å (FWHM) and a widerange of spectral types. Cross-checking the reliability of this databaseis an important and desirable exercise since a number of stars in thisdatabase have no known spectral types and a considerable fraction ofstars has not so complete coverage in the full wavelength region of3460-9464Å resulting in gaps ranging from a few Å to severaltens of Å. We use an automated classification scheme based onArtificial Neural Networks (ANN) to classify all 1273 stars in thedatabase. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) is carried outto reduce the dimensionality of the data set before the spectra areclassified by the ANN. Most importantly, we have successfullydemonstrated employment of a variation of the PCA technique to restorethe missing data in a sample of 300 stars out of the CFLIB.
| Shapes of Spectral Line Bisectors for Cool Stars
The shape of the line bisector for the prototype spectral line Fe Iλ6253 was measured for an array of 54 stars on the cool half ofthe HR diagram. These bisectors are given in tables along with theirerrors. The classic C shape is shown by only a rather restricted rangein effective temperature and luminosity. The detailed change in bisectorshape with effective temperature and luminosity is documented moreprecisely than in previous work. The most blueward point on the bisectorchanges its height systematically with luminosity and can be used as aluminosity or gravity discriminant. The wide range of bisector shapescontains significant information about the velocity fields in theatmospheres of these stars, but extracting that information may requireextensive modeling.
| Forty Years of Spectroscopic Stellar Astrophysics in Japan
The development of Japanese spectroscopic stellar astrophysics in therecent 40 years is reviewed from an observational point of view. In thisarticle, the research activities are provisionally divided into fourfields: hot stars, hot emission-line (Be) stars, cool stars, and otherstars. Historical developments of the observational facilities atOkayama Astrophysical Observatory (spectrographs and detectors) are alsosummarized in connection with the progress in scientific researchactivities.
| Predicting accurate stellar angular diameters by the near-infrared surface brightness technique
I report on the capabilities of the near-infrared (near-IR) surfacebrightness technique to predict reliable stellar angular diameters asaccurate as <~2 per cent using standard broad-band Johnson photometryin the colour range -0.1 <= (V-K)O<= 3.7 includingstars of A, F, G, K spectral type. This empirical approach is fast toapply and leads to estimated photometric diameters in very goodagreement with recent high-precision interferometric diametermeasurements available for non-variable dwarfs and giants, as well asfor Cepheid variables. Then I compare semi-empirical diameters predictedby model-dependent photometric and spectrophotometric (SP) methods withnear-IR surface brightness diameters adopted as empirical referencecalibrators. The overall agreement between all these methods is withinapproximately +/-5 per cent, confirming previous works. However, on thesame scale of accuracy, there is also evidence for systematic shiftspresumably as a result of an incorrect representation of the stellareffective temperature in the model-dependent results. I also comparemeasurements of spectroscopic radii with near-IR surface brightnessradii of Cepheids with known distances. Spectroscopic radii are found tobe affected by a scatter as significant as >~9 per cent, which is atleast three times greater than the formal error currently claimed by thespectroscopic technique. In contrast, pulsation radii predicted by theperiod-radius (PR) relation according to the Cepheid period result aresignificantly less dispersed, indicating a quite small scatter as aresult of the finite width of the Cepheid instability strip, as expectedfrom pulsation theory. The resulting low level of noise stronglyconfirms our previous claims that the pulsation parallaxes are the mostaccurate empirical distances presently available for Galactic andextragalactic Cepheids.
| Analysis of the Na, Mg, Al, and Si Abundances in the Atmospheres of Red Giants of Different Spectral Subgroups
We analyze the Na, Mg, Al, and Si abundances in the atmospheres of morethan 40 stars, includingred giants of different spectral subgroups(normal red giants, mild and classical barium stars) and severalsupergiants. All these elements exhibit abundance excesses, with theoverabundance increasing with the star’s luminosity. Thedependence of the overabundances for each of these elements on theluminosity (or log g) is the same for all the spectral subgroups,testifying to a common origin: they are all products of hydrogen burningin the NeNa and MgAl cycles that have been dredged up from the stellarinteriors to the outer atmospheric layers by convection that graduallydevelops during the star’s evolution from the main sequence to thered-giant stage. The sodium abundances derived for several stars arelower than for other stars with similar atmospheric parameters. The agesand kinematic characteristics of these two groups of stars suggest thatthey probably belong to different stellar generations.
| Variability of Stars in the Pulkovo Spectrophotometric Catalog
We present the results of a statistical study of brightness variabilityfor 693 stars of the Pulkovo spectrophotometric database in fivespectral bands in the range λλ 320 1080 nm. Significantbrightness variations were detected in at least one spectral bandagainst the background of the random noise for one-third of the starsnot earlier believed to be variable. A comparison of the distributionsof these variations in amplitude and spectral band for the normal andvariable stars shows that variability is inherent to most stars to someextent and is often wavelength dependent.
| The Effective Temperature Scale of FGK Stars. II. Teff:Color:[Fe/H] Calibrations
We present up-to-date metallicity-dependent temperature versus colorcalibrations for main-sequence and giant stars based on temperaturesderived with the infrared flux method (IRFM). Seventeen colors in thephotometric systems UBV, uvby, Vilnius, Geneva, RI(Cousins), DDO,Hipparcos-Tycho, and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) have beencalibrated. The spectral types covered by the calibrations range from F0to K5 (7000K>~Teff>~4000K) with some relationsextending below 4000 K or up to 8000 K. Most of the calibrations arevalid in the metallicity range -3.5>~[Fe/H]>~0.4, although some ofthem extend to as low as [Fe/H]~-4.0. All fits to the data have beenperformed with more than 100 stars; standard deviations range from 30 to120 K. Fits were carefully performed and corrected to eliminate thesmall systematic errors introduced by the calibration formulae. Tablesof colors as a function of Teff and [Fe/H] are provided. Thiswork is largely based on the study by A. Alonso and collaborators; thus,our relations do not significantly differ from theirs except for thevery metal-poor hot stars. From the calibrations, the temperatures of 44dwarf and giant stars with direct temperatures available are obtained.The comparison with direct temperatures confirms our finding in Paper Ithat the zero point of the IRFM temperature scale is in agreement, tothe 10 K level, with the absolute temperature scale (that based onstellar angular diameters) within the ranges of atmospheric parameterscovered by those 44 stars. The colors of the Sun are derived from thepresent IRFM Teff scale and they compare well with those offive solar analogs. It is shown that if the IRFM Teff scaleaccurately reproduces the temperatures of very metal-poor stars,systematic errors of the order of 200 K, introduced by the assumption of(V-K) being completely metallicity independent when studying verymetal-poor dwarf stars, are no longer acceptable. Comparisons with otherTeff scales, both empirical and theoretical, are also shownto be in reasonable agreement with our results, although it seems thatboth Kurucz and MARCS synthetic colors fail to predict the detailedmetallicity dependence, given that for [Fe/H]=-2.0, differences as highas approximately +/-200 K are found.
| Survey for Transiting Extrasolar Planets in Stellar Systems. II. Spectrophotometry and Metallicities of Open Clusters
We present metallicity estimates for seven open clusters based onspectrophotometric indices from moderate-resolution spectroscopy.Observations of field giants of known metallicity provide a correlationbetween the spectroscopic indices and the metallicity of open clustergiants. We use χ2 analysis to fit the relation ofspectrophotometric indices to metallicity in field giants. The resultingfunction allows an estimate of the target-cluster giants' metallicitieswith an error in the method of +/-0.08 dex. We derive the followingmetallicities for the seven open clusters: NGC 1245, [M/H]=-0.14+/-0.04NGC 2099, [M/H]=+0.05+/-0.05 NGC 2324, [M/H]=-0.06+/-0.04 NGC 2539,[M/H]=-0.04+/-0.03 NGC 2682 (M67), [M/H]=-0.05+/-0.02 NGC 6705,[M/H]=+0.14+/-0.08 NGC 6819, [M/H]=-0.07+/-0.12. These metallicityestimates will be useful in planning future extrasolar planet transitsearches, since planets may form more readily in metal-richenvironments.
| CHARM2: An updated Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
We present an update of the Catalog of High Angular ResolutionMeasurements (CHARM, Richichi & Percheron \cite{CHARM}, A&A,386, 492), which includes results available until July 2004. CHARM2 is acompilation of direct measurements by high angular resolution methods,as well as indirect estimates of stellar diameters. Its main goal is toprovide a reference list of sources which can be used for calibrationand verification observations with long-baseline optical and near-IRinterferometers. Single and binary stars are included, as are complexobjects from circumstellar shells to extragalactic sources. The presentupdate provides an increase of almost a factor of two over the previousedition. Additionally, it includes several corrections and improvements,as well as a cross-check with the valuable public release observationsof the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A total of 8231entries for 3238 unique sources are now present in CHARM2. Thisrepresents an increase of a factor of 3.4 and 2.0, respectively, overthe contents of the previous version of CHARM.The catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/431/773
| Some processes of mixing in the atmospheres of cold giants. observed evidence of burning of hydrogen
Some atmosphere parameters (Teff, lgg, [Fe/H], Vt)and the abundances of 21 elements for 19 giants of the disk aredetermined. The gravity is determined through three methods, namely, bycondition of ionization balance for atoms of iron, with the use ofparallaxes (and masses) and the adjustment of wings of the Ca I λ616.217 nm line. The abundances of the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen aredetermined from a molecular synthetic spectrum, the abundances of themagnesium and natrium are deduced in the assumption of NLTE, and theabundance of europium is determined from a sophisticated considerationof hyperfine structure. The study of the evidence of stellar evolutionand mixing in the stellar atmospheres is carried out. The average valuesfor the abundances of elements of the CNO-group are obtained. They pointto the underabundance of the carbon, overabundance of nitrogen and"normal" abundance of the oxygen, which is indicative of the reactionsof the CNO-cycle of hydrogen burning and subsequent transfer of theenriched material on a surface. A small surplus of the natrium and atrend of its abundance with lgg are found. A similar trend is revealedin the case of the nitrogen as well. This, probably, points to reactionsof burning of hydrogen also in NeNa-cycle where additional Ne can beobtained during a number of transformations from nitrogen.
| Improved Baade-Wesselink surface brightness relations
Recent, and older accurate, data on (limb-darkened) angular diameters iscompiled for 221 stars, as well as BVRIJK[12][25] magnitudes for thoseobjects, when available. Nine stars (all M-giants or supergiants)showing excess in the [12-25] colour are excluded from the analysis asthis may indicate the presence of dust influencing the optical andnear-infrared colours as well. Based on this large sample,Baade-Wesselink surface brightness (SB) relations are presented fordwarfs, giants, supergiants and dwarfs in the optical and near-infrared.M-giants are found to follow different SB relations from non-M-giants,in particular in V versus V-R. The preferred relation for non-M-giantsis compared to the earlier relation by Fouqué and Gieren (basedon 10 stars) and Nordgren et al. (based on 57 stars). Increasing thesample size does not lead to a lower rms value. It is shown that theresiduals do not correlate with metallicity at a significant level. Thefinally adopted observed angular diameters are compared to thosepredicted by Cohen et al. for 45 stars in common, and there isreasonable overall, and good agreement when θ < 6 mas.Finally, I comment on the common practice in the literature to average,and then fix, the zero-point of the V versus V-K, V versus V-R and Kversus J-K relations, and then rederive the slopes. Such a commonzero-point at zero colour is not expected from model atmospheres for theV-R colour and depends on gravity. Relations derived in this way may bebiased.
| Determination of fundamental characteristics for stars of the F, G, and K spectral types. The surface gravities and metallicity parameters.
Not Available
| A near-infrared stellar spectral library: I. H-band spectra.
This paper presents the H band near-infrared (NIR) spectral library of135 solar type stars covering spectral types O5-M3 and luminosityclasses I-V as per MK classification. The observations were carried outwith 1.2 meter Gurushikhar Infrared Telescope (GIRT), at Mt. Abu, Indiausing a NICMOS3 HgCdTe 256 x 256 NIR array based spectrometer. Thespectra have a moderate resolution of 1000 (about 16 A) at the H bandand have been continuum shape corrected to their respective effectivetemperatures. This library and the remaining ones in J and K bands oncereleased will serve as an important database for stellar populationsynthesis and other applications in conjunction with the newly formedlarge optical coude feed stellar spectral library of Valdes et al.(2004). The complete H-Band library is available online at: http://vo.iucaa.ernet.in/~voi/NIR_Header.html
| The Indo-US Library of Coudé Feed Stellar Spectra
We have obtained spectra for 1273 stars using the 0.9 m coudéfeed telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. This telescope feedsthe coudé spectrograph of the 2.1 m telescope. The spectra havebeen obtained with the no. 5 camera of the coudé spectrograph anda Loral 3K×1K CCD. Two gratings have been used to provide spectralcoverage from 3460 to 9464 Å, at a resolution of ~1 Å FWHMand at an original dispersion of 0.44 Å pixel-1. For885 stars we have complete spectra over the entire 3460 to 9464 Åwavelength region (neglecting small gaps of less than 50 Å), andpartial spectral coverage for the remaining stars. The 1273 stars havebeen selected to provide broad coverage of the atmospheric parametersTeff, logg, and [Fe/H], as well as spectral type. The goal ofthe project is to provide a comprehensive library of stellar spectra foruse in the automated classification of stellar and galaxy spectra and ingalaxy population synthesis. In this paper we discuss thecharacteristics of the spectral library, viz., details of theobservations, data reduction procedures, and selection of stars. We alsopresent a few illustrations of the quality and information available inthe spectra. The first version of the complete spectral library is nowpublicly available from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory(NOAO) via ftp and http.
| Synthetic Lick Indices and Detection of α-enhanced Stars. II. F, G, and K Stars in the -1.0 < [Fe/H] < +0.50 Range
We present an analysis of 402 F, G, and K solar neighborhood stars, withaccurate estimates of [Fe/H] in the range -1.0 to +0.5 dex, aimed at thedetection of α-enhanced stars and at the investigation of theirkinematical properties. The analysis is based on the comparison of 571sets of spectral indices in the Lick/IDS system, coming from fourdifferent observational data sets, with synthetic indices computed withsolar-scaled abundances and with α-element enhancement. We useselected combinations of indices to single out α-enhanced starswithout requiring previous knowledge of their main atmosphericparameters. By applying this approach to the total data set, we obtain alist of 60 bona fide α-enhanced stars and of 146 stars withsolar-scaled abundances. The properties of the detected α-enhancedand solar-scaled abundance stars with respect to their [Fe/H] values andkinematics are presented. A clear kinematic distinction betweensolar-scaled and α-enhanced stars was found, although a one-to-onecorrespondence to ``thin disk'' and ``thick disk'' components cannot besupported with the present data.
| Rotation and Lithium Surface Abundances, Revisited
For giants in the Hertzsprung gap, the relations betweenTeff, vsini, and lithium surface abundances arereinvestigated and compared with the relations found for Hyadesmain-sequence F stars. For the Hyades main-sequence F stars, the vsinidecrease steeply around Teff~6450 K. At the same temperaturethe lithium surface abundances show a narrow, deep dip. For most giantsthere is also a steep decrease of vsini for Teff around 6450K. At this temperature the lithium surface abundances of the giants alsodecrease steeply and remain low for Teff<6400 K. Thechanges in rotation and Li surface abundances occur over a temperatureinterval of less than 300 K, which for a 2 Msolar giantcorresponds to an age interval of about 106 yr. Thesimultaneous steep decreases of rotation velocities and Li surfaceabundances indicate that for the giants these changes are due to thesame cause, which we suggest to be deep mixing. It then seems ratherlikely that for the Hyades main-sequence F5 V stars the decrease ofrotation and Li surface abundance is also caused by deep mixing. Wesuggest that in both cases the changes are related to the merging of thehydrogen and helium convection zones.
| Further Results of TiO-Band Observations of Starspots
We present measurements of starspot parameters (temperature and fillingfactor) on five highly active stars, using absorption bands of TiO, fromobservations made between 1998 March and 2001 December. We determinedstarspot parameters by fitting TiO bands using spectra of inactive G andK stars as proxies for the unspotted photospheres of the active starsand spectra of M stars as proxies for the spots. For three evolved RSCVn systems, we find spot filling factors between 0.28 and 0.42 for DMUMa, 0.22 and 0.40 for IN Vir, and 0.31 and 0.35 for XX Tri; thesevalues are similar to those found by other investigators usingphotometry and Doppler imaging. Among active dwarfs, we measured a lowerspot temperature (3350 K) for EQ Vir than found in a previous study ofTiO bands, and for EK Dra a lower spot temperature (~3800 K) than foundthrough photometry. For all active stars but XX Tri, we achieved goodphase coverage through a stellar rotational period. We also present ourfinal, extensive grid of spot and nonspot proxy stars.This paper includes data taken at McDonald Observatory of the Universityof Texas at Austin.
| Empirically Constrained Color-Temperature Relations. II. uvby
A new grid of theoretical color indices for the Strömgren uvbyphotometric system has been derived from MARCS model atmospheres and SSGsynthetic spectra for cool dwarf and giant stars having-3.0<=[Fe/H]<=+0.5 and 3000<=Teff<=8000 K. Atwarmer temperatures (i.e., 8000-2.0. To overcome thisproblem, the theoretical indices at intermediate and high metallicitieshave been corrected using a set of color calibrations based on fieldstars having well-determined distances from Hipparcos, accurateTeff estimates from the infrared flux method, andspectroscopic [Fe/H] values. In contrast with Paper I, star clustersplayed only a minor role in this analysis in that they provided asupplementary constraint on the color corrections for cool dwarf starswith Teff<=5500 K. They were mainly used to test thecolor-Teff relations and, encouragingly, isochrones thatemploy the transformations derived in this study are able to reproducethe observed CMDs (involving u-v, v-b, and b-y colors) for a number ofopen and globular clusters (including M67, the Hyades, and 47 Tuc)rather well. Moreover, our interpretations of such data are verysimilar, if not identical, with those given in Paper I from aconsideration of BV(RI)C observations for the sameclusters-which provides a compelling argument in support of thecolor-Teff relations that are reported in both studies. Inthe present investigation, we have also analyzed the observedStrömgren photometry for the classic Population II subdwarfs,compared our ``final'' (b-y)-Teff relationship with thosederived empirically in a number of recent studies and examined in somedetail the dependence of the m1 index on [Fe/H].Based, in part, on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope,operated jointly on the island of La Palma by Denmark, Finland, Iceland,Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de losMuchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.Based, in part, on observations obtained with the Danish 1.54 mtelescope at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.
| Precise radial velocity measurements of G and K giants. Multiple systems and variability trend along the Red Giant Branch
We present the results of our radial velocity (RV) measurements of G andK giants, concentrating on the presence of multiple systems in oursample. Eighty-three giants have been observed for 2.5 years with thefiber-fed echelle spectrograph FEROS at the 1.52 m ESO telescope in LaSilla, Chile. Seventy-seven stars (93%) of the targets have beenanalyzed for RV variability using simultaneous Th-Ar calibration and across-correlation technique. We estimate the long-term precision of ourmeasurement as better than 25 m s-1. Projected rotationalvelocities have been measured for most stars of the sample. Within ourtime-base only 21 stars (or 27%) show variability below 2\sigma, whilethe others show RV variability with amplitudes up to several kms-1. The large amplitude (several km s-1) andshape (high eccentricity) of the RV variations for 11 of the programstars are consistent with stellar companions, and possibly brown dwarfcompanions for two of the program stars. In those systems for which afull orbit could be derived, the companions have minimum masses from0.6 M\sun down to 0.1 M\sun. To thesemultiple systems we add the two candidates of giant planets alreadydiscovered in the sample. This analysis shows that multiple systemscontribute substantially to the long-term RV variability of giant stars,with about 20% of the sample being composed of multiple systems despitescreening our sample for known binary stars. After removing binaries,the range of RV variability in the whole sample clearly decreases, butthe remaining stars retain a statistical trend of RV variability withluminosity: luminous cool giants with B-V≥1.2 show RV variationswith \sigma_{/lineRV} > 60 m s-1, while giants with B-V< 1.2 including those in the clump region exhibit less variability orthey are constant within our accuracy. The same trend is observed withrespect to absolute visual magnitudes: brighter stars show a largerdegree of variability and, when plotted in the RV variability vs.magnitude diagram a trend of increasing RV scatter with luminosity isseen. The amplitude of RV variability does not increase dramatically, aspredicted, for instance, by simple scaling laws. At least two luminousand cooler stars of the sample show a correlation between RV andchromospheric activity and bisector asymmetry, indicating that in thesetwo objects RV variability is likely induced by the presence of(chromospheric) surface structures.Based on observations collected at the 1.52 m-ESO telescope at the LaSilla Observatory from Oct 1999 to Feb. 2002 under ESO programs and theESO-Observatório Nacional, Brazil, agreement and in part onobservations collected on the Alfred Jensch 2 m telescope of theThüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg.
| Empirical calibration of the near-infrared CaII triplet - IV. The stellar population synthesis models
We present a new evolutionary stellar population synthesis model, whichpredicts spectral energy distributions for single-age single-metallicitystellar populations (SSPs) at resolution 1.5 Å (FWHM) in thespectral region of the near-infrared CaII triplet feature. The mainingredient of the model is a new extensive empirical stellar spectrallibrary that has been recently presented by Cenarro et al., which iscomposed of more than 600 stars with an unprecedented coverage of thestellar atmospheric parameters.Two main products of interest for stellar population analysis arepresented. The first is a spectral library for SSPs with metallicities-1.7 < [Fe/H] < +0.2, a large range of ages (0.1-18 Gyr) andinitial mass function (IMF) types. They are well suited to modellinggalaxy data, since the SSP spectra, with flux-calibrated responsecurves, can be smoothed to the resolution of the observational data,taking into account the internal velocity dispersion of the galaxy,allowing the user to analyse the observed spectrum in its own system. Wealso produce integrated absorption-line indices (namely CaT*, CaT andPaT) for the same SSPs in the form of equivalent widths.We find the following behaviour for the CaII triplet feature in old-agedSSPs: (i) the strength of the CaT* index does not change much with timefor all metallicities for ages larger than ~3 Gyr; (ii) this index showsa strong dependence on metallicity for values below [M/H]~-0.5 and (iii)for larger metallicities this feature does not show a significantdependence either on age or on the metallicity, being more sensitive tochanges in the slope of power-like IMF shapes.The SSP spectra have been calibrated with measurements for globularclusters by Armandroff & Zinn, which are well reproduced, probingthe validity of using the integrated CaII triplet feature fordetermining the metallicities of these systems. Fitting the models totwo early-type galaxies of different luminosities (NGC 4478 and 4365),we find that the CaII triplet measurements cannot be fitted unless avery dwarf-dominated IMF is imposed, or if the Ca abundance is evenlower than the Fe abundance. More details can be found in work byCenarro et al.
| A search for diffuse absorption bands in carbon-rich stars - I. Barium and related stars
The results of a search for interstellar and circumstellar absorptionlines in high-resolution optical spectra of seven late-type stars arepresented. All these stars are single-lined spectroscopic binaries withunseen companions, presumably white dwarfs. Some residual materialindicative of recent mass transfer from an asymptotic giant branch (AGB)star might still be associated with the systems. Peculiar energydistribution and the sodium D1 and D2 lines givedirect evidence about the material in the line of sight in some cases.Absorption features of simple carbon-bearing molecules (C2,CN) have been detected in most of the examined stars, confirming acarbon-rich nature of the corresponding medium. The presence of fourwell-known prominent diffuse absorption bands at 5780, 5797, 5705, and5844 Å, belonging to different families, was examined. We have notfound clear evidence for these bands in the programme stars. Thepossible explanations are discussed in brief.
| 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.
| Angular Diameters of Stars from the Mark III Optical Interferometer
Observations of 85 stars were obtained at wavelengths between 451 and800 nm with the Mark III Stellar Interferometer on Mount Wilson, nearPasadena, California. Angular diameters were determined by fitting auniform-disk model to the visibility amplitude versus projected baselinelength. Half the angular diameters determined at 800 nm have formalerrors smaller than 1%. Limb-darkened angular diameters, effectivetemperatures, and surface brightnesses were determined for these stars,and relationships between these parameters are presented. Scatter inthese relationships is larger than would be expected from themeasurement uncertainties. We argue that this scatter is not due to anunderestimate of the angular diameter errors; whether it is due tophotometric errors or is intrinsic to the relationship is unresolved.The agreement with other observations of the same stars at the samewavelengths is good; the width of the difference distribution iscomparable to that estimated from the error bars, but the wings of thedistribution are larger than Gaussian. Comparison with infraredmeasurements is more problematic; in disagreement with models, coolerstars appear systematically smaller in the near-infrared than expected,warmer stars larger.
| Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 Parsecs: The Northern Sample. I.
We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars(NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program, toobtain spectra, spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physicalparameters for the 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40pc of the Sun. In this paper, we report on the results of this projectfor the first 664 stars in the northern hemisphere. These resultsinclude precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physical parameters(including the effective temperature, surface gravity, and overallmetallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of ourprogram stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper arealso available on the project's Web site.
| The Evolutionary State of Stars in the NGC 1333S Star Formation Region
We present 2 μm near-IR spectroscopic observations of a sample of 33objects in the NGC 1333S active star-forming cluster centered on thepre-main-sequence star SSV 13. We have previously studied this regionphotometrically in the optical and near-IR, and with the addition ofthese near-IR spectra, we further probe the pre-main-sequence clustermembership and evolutionary state. From the atomic and molecularabsorption features observed, together with the earlier photometry, wederive spectral types, effective temperatures, masses, and ages of thestars and conclude that almost all (90%) the stars observed in thissample are pre-main-sequence objects. This result significantly refinesthe evolutionary information obtained from photometric evidence alone.Comparison with theoretical evolutionary tracks and isochrones suggeststhat our survey has sampled sources with masses in the range 0.2-2Msolar and stellar ages between 7×104 and1×108 yr with a preponderance of sources around3×106 yr. This implies the presence of low- tointermediate-mass T Tauri stars of evolutionary designation Class I toClass III. We conclude that star formation seems to have occurred inlikely several bursts rather than occurring coevally. Star formation insuch a region as NGC 1333S is likely significantly affected by the largenumber of active molecular outflows in the region, which could provide amechanism for cloud turbulence and the onset of subsequent starformation.
| Catalogue of averaged stellar effective magnetic fields. I. Chemically peculiar A and B type stars
This paper presents the catalogue and the method of determination ofaveraged quadratic effective magnetic fields < B_e > for 596 mainsequence and giant stars. The catalogue is based on measurements of thestellar effective (or mean longitudinal) magnetic field strengths B_e,which were compiled from the existing literature.We analysed the properties of 352 chemically peculiar A and B stars inthe catalogue, including Am, ApSi, He-weak, He-rich, HgMn, ApSrCrEu, andall ApSr type stars. We have found that the number distribution of allchemically peculiar (CP) stars vs. averaged magnetic field strength isdescribed by a decreasing exponential function. Relations of this typehold also for stars of all the analysed subclasses of chemicalpeculiarity. The exponential form of the above distribution function canbreak down below about 100 G, the latter value representingapproximately the resolution of our analysis for A type stars.Table A.1 and its references are only available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/407/631 and Tables 3 to 9are only available in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org
| High resolution spectroscopy over lambda lambda 8500-8750 Å for GAIA. IV. Extending the cool MK stars sample
A library of high resolution spectra of MK standard and reference stars,observed in support to the GAIA mission, is presented. The aim of thispaper is to integrate the MK mapping of Paper I of this series as wellas to consider stars over a wider range of metallicities. Radialvelocities are measured for all the target stars.The spectra are available in electronic form (ASCII format) at CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/406/995 and from the webpage http://ulisse.pd.astro.it/MoreMK/, where further bibliographicalinformation for the target stars is given.
| The Hamburg/RASS Catalogue of optical identifications. Northern high-galactic latitude ROSAT Bright Source Catalogue X-ray sources
We present the Hamburg/RASS Catalogue (HRC) of optical identificationsof X-ray sources at high-galactic latitude. The HRC includes all X-raysources from the ROSAT Bright Source Catalogue (RASS-BSC) with galacticlatitude |b| >=30degr and declination delta >=0degr . In thispart of the sky covering ~ 10 000 deg2 the RASS-BSC contains5341 X-ray sources. For the optical identification we used blue Schmidtprism and direct plates taken for the northern hemisphere Hamburg QuasarSurvey (HQS) which are now available in digitized form. The limitingmagnitudes are 18.5 and 20, respectively. For 82% of the selectedRASS-BSC an identification could be given. For the rest either nocounterpart was visible in the error circle or a plausibleidentification was not possible. With ~ 42% AGN represent the largestgroup of X-ray emitters, ~ 31% have a stellar counterpart, whereasgalaxies and cluster of galaxies comprise only ~ 4% and ~ 5%,respectively. In ~ 3% of the RASS-BSC sources no object was visible onour blue direct plates within 40\arcsec around the X-ray sourceposition. The catalogue is used as a source for the selection of(nearly) complete samples of the various classes of X-ray emitters.
| STELIB: A library of stellar spectra at R ~ 2000
We present STELIB, a new spectroscopic stellar library, available athttp://webast.ast.obs-mip.fr/stelib. STELIB consists of an homogeneouslibrary of 249 stellar spectra in the visible range (3200 to 9500Å), with an intermediate spectral resolution (la 3 Å) andsampling (1 Å). This library includes stars of various spectraltypes and luminosity classes, spanning a relatively wide range inmetallicity. The spectral resolution, wavelength and spectral typecoverage of this library represents a substantial improvement overprevious libraries used in population synthesis models. The overallabsolute photometric uncertainty is 3%.Based on observations collected with the Jacobus Kaptein Telescope,(owned and operated jointly by the Particle Physics and AstronomyResearch Council of the UK, The Nederlandse Organisatie voorWetenschappelijk Onderzoek of The Netherlands and the Instituto deAstrofísica de Canarias of Spain and located in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos on La Palma which is operated bythe Instituto de AstrofÃsica de Canarias), the 2.3 mtelescope of the Australian National University at Siding Spring,Australia, and the VLT-UT1 Antu Telescope (ESO).Tables \ref{cat1} to \ref{cat6} and \ref{antab1} to A.7 are onlyavailable in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org. The StellarLibrary STELIB library is also available at the CDS, via anonymous ftpto cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/402/433
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Virgo |
| Right ascension: | 13h02m10.60s |
| Declination: | +10°57'33.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 2.83 |
| Distance: | 31.348 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -274.1 |
| Proper motion Dec: | 19.3 |
| B-T magnitude: | 3.996 |
| V-T magnitude: | 2.917 |
Catalogs and designations:
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