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Frequency of Debris Disks around Solar-Type Stars: First Results from a Spitzer MIPS Survey
We have searched for infrared excesses around a well-defined sample of69 FGK main-sequence field stars. These stars were selected withoutregard to their age, metallicity, or any previous detection of IRexcess; they have a median age of ~4 Gyr. We have detected 70 μmexcesses around seven stars at the 3 σ confidence level. Thisextra emission is produced by cool material (<100 K) located beyond10 AU, well outside the ``habitable zones'' of these systems andconsistent with the presence of Kuiper Belt analogs with ~100 times moreemitting surface area than in our own planetary system. Only one star,HD 69830, shows excess emission at 24 μm, corresponding to dust withtemperatures >~300 K located inside of 1 AU. While debris disks withLdust/L*>=10-3 are rare around oldFGK stars, we find that the disk frequency increases from 2%+/-2% forLdust/L*>=10-4 to 12%+/-5% forLdust/L*>=10-5. This trend in thedisk luminosity distribution is consistent with the estimated dust inour solar system being within an order of magnitude greater or less thanthe typical level around similar nearby stars. Although there is nocorrelation of IR excess with metallicity or spectral type, there is aweak correlation with stellar age, with stars younger than a gigayearmore likely to have excess emission.
| Lithium abundances for early F stars: new observational constraints for the Li dilution
Aims.To investigate any correlation between Li abundances and rotationalvelocities among F-G evolved stars, we study a large sample of early Fstars from the Bright Star Catalogue (BSC), most of them classified inthe literature as giant stars.Methods.Physical parameters and Liabundances are estimated for each star, often for the first time, bycomparing observed and synthetic spectra. We analyse the position of thestars in the H-R Diagram based on Hipparcos data using stellarevolutionary tracks and we discuss their Li abundances and projectedrotational velocities.Results.Observed stars are mostly on theturnoff, with masses between 1.5 and 2.0 Mȯ. The starswith measured A(Li) abundance show high Li content, most of them withabundance near the cosmic value. The A(Li) versus V sin i diagram showsthe same trend as reported in previous studies: fast rotators (V sinigse 30 km s-1) are also stars with high Li content, whereasslow rotators present a wide range of values of A(Li), ranging from nodetected Li to the cosmic value.
| High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Ursa Major Moving Group Stars
We use new and extant literature spectroscopy to address abundances andmembership for UMa moving group stars. We first compare the UMa, Coma,and Hyades H-R diagrams via a homogeneous set of isochrones and findthat these three aggregates are essentially coeval; this (near)coevality can explain the indistinguishable distributions of UMa andHyades dwarfs in the chromospheric emission versus color plane. Ourspectroscopy of cool UMa dwarfs reveals striking abundanceanomalies-trends with Teff, ionization state, and excitationpotential-like those recently seen in young, cool M34, Pleaides, andHyades dwarfs. In particular, the trend of rising λ7774-based O Iabundance with declining Teff is markedly subdued in UMacompared to the Pleiades, suggesting a dependence on age or metallicity.Recent photometric metallicity estimates for several UMa dwarfs aremarkedly low compared to the group's canonical metallicity, and similardeviants are seen among cool Hyads as well. Our spectroscopy does notconfirm these curious photometric estimates, which seem to be calledinto question for cool dwarfs. Despite disparate sources of Li data, ourhomogeneous analysis indicates that UMa members evince remarkably smallscatter in the Li-Teff plane for Teff>=5200 K.Significant star-to-star scatter suggested by previous studies is seenfor cooler stars. Comparison with the consistently determined HyadesLi-Teff trend reveals differences that are qualitativelyconsistent with this cluster's larger [Fe/H] (and perhaps slightlygreater age). However, quantitative comparison with standard stellarmodels indicates the differences are smaller than expected, suggestingthe action of a fourth parameter beyond age, mass, and [Fe/H]controlling Li depletion. The UMa-Coma cool star Li abundances may showa slight 0.2 dex difference; however, this may be mass-independent andthus more consistent with a modest initial Li abundance difference.This paper includes data taken at the McDonald Observatory of theUniversity of Texas at Austin.Based on observations obtained at Kitt Peak National Observatory, adivision of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which isoperated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
| Radial Velocities of Late-Type Field Subgiant Stars
High-dispersion coudé spectra were observed and measured for 43field subgiants of the G and K spectral types, with the intent ofsearching for hitherto undiscovered spectroscopic binaries. Statisticalanalysis of the measurements revealed no definite but two possible newbinaries. We present the data and discuss the statistical analysis usedto test for new binaries. Additionally, we discuss the techniques forhigh precision of radial-velocity measurement, and the systematic errorsthat interfere with that goal.
| Can Life Develop in the Expanded Habitable Zones around Red Giant Stars?
We present some new ideas about the possibility of life developingaround subgiant and red giant stars. Our study concerns the temporalevolution of the habitable zone. The distance between the star and thehabitable zone, as well as its width, increases with time as aconsequence of stellar evolution. The habitable zone moves outward afterthe star leaves the main sequence, sweeping a wider range of distancesfrom the star until the star reaches the tip of the asymptotic giantbranch. Currently there is no clear evidence as to when life actuallyformed on the Earth, but recent isotopic data suggest life existed atleast as early as 7×108 yr after the Earth was formed.Thus, if life could form and evolve over time intervals from5×108 to 109 yr, then there could behabitable planets with life around red giant stars. For a 1Msolar star at the first stages of its post-main-sequenceevolution, the temporal transit of the habitable zone is estimated to beseveral times 109 yr at 2 AU and around 108 yr at9 AU. Under these circumstances life could develop at distances in therange 2-9 AU in the environment of subgiant or giant stars, and in thefar distant future in the environment of our own solar system. After astar completes its first ascent along the red giant branch and the Heflash takes place, there is an additional stable period of quiescent Hecore burning during which there is another opportunity for life todevelop. For a 1 Msolar star there is an additional109 yr with a stable habitable zone in the region from 7 to22 AU. Space astronomy missions, such as proposed for the TerrestrialPlanet Finder (TPF) and Darwin, that focus on searches for signatures oflife on extrasolar planets, should also consider the environments ofsubgiants and red giant stars as potentially interesting sites forunderstanding the development of life. We performed a preliminaryevaluation of the difficulty of interferometric observations of planetsaround red giant stars compared to a main-sequence star environment. Weshow that pathfinder missions for TPF and Darwin, such as Eclipse andFKSI, have sufficient angular resolution and sensitivity to search forhabitable planets around some of the closest evolved stars of thesubgiant and red giant class.
| Fine structure of the chromospheric activity in Solar-type stars - The Hα line
A calibration of Hα as both a chromospheric diagnostic and an ageindicator is presented, complementing the works previously done on thissubject (\cite{herbig}; \cite{luca1}). The chromospheric diagnostic wasbuilt with a statistically significant sample, covering nine years ofobservations, and including 175 solar neighborhood stars. Regarding theage indicator, the presence of stars for which very accurate ages aredetermined, such as those belonging to clusters and kinematic groups,lends confidence to our analysis. We also investigate the possibilitythat stars of the same age might have gone through different tracks ofchromospheric decay, identifying - within the same age range - effectsof metallicity and mass. These parameters, however, as well as age, seemto be significant only for dwarf stars, losing their meaning when weanalyze stars in the subgiant branch. This result suggests that, inthese evolved stars, the emission mechanism cannot bemagnetohydrodynamical in nature, in agreement with recent models (Fawzyet al. 2002c, and references therein). The Sun is found to be a typicalstar in its Hα chromospheric flux, for its age, mass andmetallicity. As a byproduct of this work, we developed an automaticmethod to determine temperatures from the wings of Hα, which meansthe suppression of the error inherent to the visual procedure used inthe literature.Based on observations collected at Observatório do Pico dos Dias,operated by the Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica, CNPq,Brazil.Table 5 is only available in electronic form at thehttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Nearby stars of the Galactic disk and halo. III.
High-resolution spectroscopic observations of about 150 nearby stars orstar systems are presented and discussed. The study of these and another100 objects of the previous papers of this series implies that theGalaxy became reality 13 or 14 Gyr ago with the implementation of amassive, rotationally-supported population of thick-disk stars. The veryhigh star formation rate in that phase gave rise to a rapid metalenrichment and an expulsion of gas in supernovae-driven Galactic winds,but was followed by a star formation gap for no less than three billionyears at the Sun's galactocentric distance. In a second phase, then, thethin disk - our ``familiar Milky Way'' - came on stage. Nowadays ittraces the bright side of the Galaxy, but it is also embedded in a hugecoffin of dead thick-disk stars that account for a large amount ofbaryonic dark matter. As opposed to this, cold-dark-matter-dominatedcosmologies that suggest a more gradual hierarchical buildup throughmergers of minor structures, though popular, are a poor description forthe Milky Way Galaxy - and by inference many other spirals as well - if,as the sample implies, the fossil records of its long-lived stars do notstick to this paradigm. Apart from this general picture that emergeswith reference to the entire sample stars, a good deal of the presentwork is however also concerned with detailed discussions of manyindividual objects. Among the most interesting we mention the bluestraggler or merger candidates HD 165401 and HD 137763/HD 137778, thelikely accretion of a giant planet or brown dwarf on 59 Vir in itsrecent history, and HD 63433 that proves to be a young solar analog at\tau200 Myr. Likewise, the secondary to HR 4867, formerly suspectednon-single from the Hipparcos astrometry, is directly detectable in thehigh-resolution spectroscopic tracings, whereas the visual binary \chiCet is instead at least triple, and presumably even quadruple. Withrespect to the nearby young stars a complete account of the Ursa MajorAssociation is presented, and we provide as well plain evidence foranother, the ``Hercules-Lyra Association'', the likely existence ofwhich was only realized in recent years. On account of its rotation,chemistry, and age we do confirm that the Sun is very typical among itsG-type neighbors; as to its kinematics, it appears however not unlikelythat the Sun's known low peculiar space velocity could indeed be thecause for the weak paleontological record of mass extinctions and majorimpact events on our parent planet during the most recent Galactic planepassage of the solar system. Although the significance of thiscorrelation certainly remains a matter of debate for years to come, wepoint in this context to the principal importance of the thick disk fora complete census with respect to the local surface and volumedensities. Other important effects that can be ascribed to this darkstellar population comprise (i) the observed plateau in the shape of theluminosity function of the local FGK stars, (ii) a small thoughsystematic effect on the basic solar motion, (iii) a reassessment of theterm ``asymmetrical drift velocity'' for the remainder (i.e. the thindisk) of the stellar objects, (iv) its ability to account for the bulkof the recently discovered high-velocity blue white dwarfs, (v) itsmajor contribution to the Sun's 220 km s-1 rotationalvelocity around the Galactic center, and (vi) the significant flatteningthat it imposes on the Milky Way's rotation curve. Finally we note ahigh multiplicity fraction in the small but volume-complete local sampleof stars of this ancient population. This in turn is highly suggestivefor a star formation scenario wherein the few existing single stellarobjects might only arise from either late mergers or the dynamicalejection of former triple or higher level star systems.
| A new Böhm-Vitense gap in the temperature range 5560 to 5610 K in the main sequence hm-Vitense gap in the main sequence
Highly precise temperatures (σ = 10-15 K) have been determinedfrom line depth ratios for a set of 248 F-K field dwarfs of about solarmetallicity (-0.5 < [Fe/H] < +0.4), based on high resolution (R=42000), high S/N echelle spectra. A new gap has been discovered in thedistribution of stars on the Main Sequence in the temperature range 5560to 5610 K. This gap coincides with a jump in the microturbulent velocityVt and the well-known Li depression near 5600 K in fielddwarfs and open clusters. As the principal cause of the observeddiscontinuities in stellar properties we propose the penetration of theconvective zone into the inner layers of stars slightly less massivethan the Sun and related to it, a change in the temperature gradient.Based on spectra collected with the ELODIE spectrograph at the 1.93-mtelescope of the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (France).Full Table 1 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Chemical enrichment and star formation in the Milky Way disk. III. Chemodynamical constraints
In this paper, we investigate some chemokinematical properties of theMilky Way disk, by using a sample composed by 424 late-type dwarfs. Weshow that the velocity dispersion of a stellar group correlates with theage of this group, according to a law proportional to t0.26,where t is the age of the stellar group. The temporal evolution of thevertex deviation is considered in detail. It is shown that the vertexdeviation does not seem to depend strongly on the age of the stellargroup. Previous studies in the literature seem to not have found it dueto the use of statistical ages for stellar groups, rather thanindividual ages. The possibility to use the orbital parameters of a starto derive information about its birthplace is investigated, and we showthat the mean galactocentric radius is likely to be the most reliablestellar birthplace indicator. However, this information cannot bepresently used to derive radial evolutionary constraints, due to anintrinsic bias present in all samples constructed from nearby stars. Anextensive discussion of the secular and stochastic heating mechanismscommonly invoked to explain the age-velocity dispersion relation ispresented. We suggest that the age-velocity dispersion relation couldreflect the gradual decrease in the turbulent velocity dispersion fromwhich disk stars form, a suggestion originally made by Tinsley &Larson (\cite{tinsley}, ApJ, 221, 554) and supported by several morerecent disk evolution calculations. A test to distinguish between thetwo types of models using high-redshift galaxies is proposed.Full Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/423/517
| 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.
| The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood. Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of 14 000 F and G dwarfs
We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, andkinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sampleand, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcosparallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities,complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-qualityvelocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures andmetallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. Theremaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. Amajor effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone agesfor all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has beengiven to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and errorestimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effectsand introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agreewell with those by Edvardsson et al. (\cite{edv93}), despite severalastrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate,however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause thedistribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of thetrue age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations ofthe Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presentedhere, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and theage-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of theSolar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor Gdwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the ``G dwarfproblem''), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk,the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since itsformation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, andthe continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiencyconsistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giantmolecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the Vcomponent of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity,corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather thanclassical moving groups, and may complicate the identification ofthick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of thisrich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteriafor the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Based on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, LaSilla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire deHaute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/418/989
| Beryllium Abundances in F and G Dwarfs in the Coma Cluster and the Ursa Major Moving Group from Keck HIRES Observations
The study of both light elements Li and Be in open clusters of knownproperties can reveal the internal structure and the mechanisms ofmixing in main-sequence stars as a function of age and composition. Inprevious work, we have investigated the older Hyades cluster and theyounger Pleiades and α Per clusters. The Coma Berenices clusterand the UMa moving group are intermediate in age between the Hyades andPleiades and provide a good linchpin for the influence of stellar age onlight-element abundances; there are dips in the mid-F stars in both Liand Be in the Hyades but no Be dip and only a minor Li dip in thePleiades. We have made observations of the resonance doublet of Be IInear 3130 Å in 13 Coma and six UMa stars with the Keck I telescopeand the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer. The Be abundances weredetermined by spectrum synthesis. In the F dwarfs in Coma, there areboth Li and Be deficiencies, indicating that the depletions occur duringthe main-sequence phase of evolution but do not become evident until anage of 200-300 Myr. For both UMa and Coma stars, the Li depletion isgreater than the Be depletion at all temperatures, but there is little,if any, Be depletion in stars with Teff<6000 K. In thefour clusters studied for Be, the mean Be abundance for stars withtemperatures less than 6000 K is logN(Be/H)+12.00=1.27, independent ofage or metal content. For the hotter stars (5850-6680 K), the Li and Beabundances are correlated, indicating that the depletion probably occurssimultaneously; this matches the results for the field stars and theHyades and the predictions of Li and Be depletion by rotationallyinduced mixing.
| 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.
| Stellar Kinematic Groups. II. A Reexamination of the Membership, Activity, and Age of the Ursa Major Group
Utilizing Hipparcos parallaxes, original radial velocities and recentliterature values, new Ca II H and K emission measurements,literature-based abundance estimates, and updated photometry (includingrecent resolved measurements of close doubles), we revisit the UrsaMajor moving group membership status of some 220 stars to produce afinal clean list of nearly 60 assured members, based on kinematic andphotometric criteria. Scatter in the velocity dispersions and H-Rdiagram is correlated with trial activity-based membership assignments,indicating the usefulness of criteria based on photometric andchromospheric emission to examine membership. Closer inspection,however, shows that activity is considerably more robust at excludingmembership, failing to do so only for <=15% of objects, perhapsconsiderably less. Our UMa members demonstrate nonzero vertex deviationin the Bottlinger diagram, behavior seen in older and recent studies ofnearby young disk stars and perhaps related to Galactic spiralstructure. Comparison of isochrones and our final UMa group membersindicates an age of 500+/-100 Myr, some 200 Myr older than thecanonically quoted UMa age. Our UMa kinematic/photometric members' meanchromospheric emission levels, rotational velocities, and scattertherein are indistinguishable from values in the Hyades and smaller thanthose evinced by members of the younger Pleiades and M34 clusters,suggesting these characteristics decline rapidly with age over 200-500Myr. None of our UMa members demonstrate inordinately low absolutevalues of chromospheric emission, but several may show residual fluxes afactor of >=2 below a Hyades-defined lower envelope. If one defines aMaunder-like minimum in a relative sense, then the UMa results maysuggest that solar-type stars spend 10% of their entire main-sequencelives in periods of precipitously low activity, which is consistent withestimates from older field stars. As related asides, we note six evolvedstars (among our UMa nonmembers) with distinctive kinematics that liealong a 2 Gyr isochrone and appear to be late-type counterparts to diskF stars defining intermediate-age star streams in previous studies,identify a small number of potentially very young but isolated fieldstars, note that active stars (whether UMa members or not) in our samplelie very close to the solar composition zero-age main sequence, unlikeHipparcos-based positions in the H-R diagram of Pleiades dwarfs, andargue that some extant transformations of activity indices are notadequate for cool dwarfs, for which Ca II infrared triplet emissionseems to be a better proxy than Hα-based values for Ca II H and Kindices.
| 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.
| On the link between rotation, chromospheric activity and Li abundance in subgiant stars
The connection rotation-CaII emission flux-lithium abundance is analyzedfor a sample of bona fide subgiant stars, with evolutionary statusdetermined from HIPPARCOS trigonometric parallax measurements and fromthe Toulouse-Geneva code. The distribution of rotation and CaII emissionflux as a function of effective temperature shows a discontinuitylocated around the same spectral type, F8IV. Blueward of this spectraltype, subgiants have a large spread of values of rotation and CaII flux,whereas stars redward of F8IV show essentially low rotation and low CaIIflux. The strength of these declines depends on stellar mass. Theabundance of lithium also shows a sudden decrease. For subgiants withmass lower than about 1.2 Msun the decrease is located laterthan that in rotation and CaII flux, whereas for masses higher than 1.2Msun the decrease in lithium abundance is located around thespectral type F8IV. The discrepancy between the location of thediscontinuities of rotation and CaII emission flux and log n(Li) forstars with masses lower than 1.2 Msun seems to reflect thesensitivity of these phenomena to the mass of the convective envelope.The drop in rotation, which results mostly from a magnetic braking,requires an increase in the mass of the convective envelope less thanthat required for the decrease in log n(Li). The location of thediscontinuity in log n(Li) for stars with masses higher than 1.2Msun, in the same region of the discontinuities in rotationand CaII emission flux, may also be explained by the behavior of thedeepening of the convective envelope. The more massive the star is, theearlier is the increase of the convective envelope. In contrast to therelationship between rotation and CaII flux, which is fairly linear, therelationship between lithium abundance and rotation shows no cleartendency toward linear behavior. Similarly, no clear linear trend isobserved in the relationship between lithium abundance and CaII flux. Inspite of these facts, subgiants with high lithium content also have highrotation and high CaII emission flux.
| Statistical cataloging of archival data for luminosity class IV-V stars. II. The epoch 2001 [Fe/H] catalog
This paper describes the derivation of an updated statistical catalog ofmetallicities. The stars for which those metallicities apply are ofspectral types F, G, and K, and are on or near the main sequence. Theinput data for the catalog are values of [Fe/H] published before 2002February and derived from lines of weak and moderate strength. Theanalyses used to derive the data have been based on one-dimensional LTEmodel atmospheres. Initial adjustments which are applied to the datainclude corrections to a uniform temperature scale which is given in acompanion paper (see Taylor \cite{t02}). After correction, the data aresubjected to a statistical analysis. For each of 941 stars considered,the results of that analysis include a mean value of [Fe/H], an rmserror, an associated number of degrees of freedom, and one or moreidentification numbers for source papers. The catalog of these resultssupersedes an earlier version given by Taylor (\cite{t94b}).Catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/398/731
| Statistical cataloging of archival data for luminosity class IV-V stars. I. The epoch 2001 temperature catalog
This paper is one of a pair in which temperatures and metallicitycatalogs for class IV-V stars are considered. The temperature catalogdescribed here is derived from a calibration based on stellar angulardiameters. If published calibrations of this kind are compared by usingcolor-index transformations, temperature-dependent differences among thecalibrations are commonly found. However, such differences are minimizedif attention is restricted to calibrations based on Johnson V-K. Acalibration of this sort from Di Benedetto (\cite{dib98}) is thereforetested and adopted. That calibration is then applied to spectroscopicand photometric data, with the latter predominating. Cousins R-Iphotometry receives special attention because of its high precision andlow metallicity sensitivity. Testing of temperatures derived from thecalibration suggests that their accuracy and precision are satisfactory,though further testing will be warranted as new results appear. Thesetemperatures appear in the catalog as values of theta equiv5040/T(effective). Most of these entries are accompanied by measured orderived values of Cousins R-I. Entries are given for 951 stars.Catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/398/721
| Stellar atmospheres of nearby young solar analogs
High-resolution (/R~90,000) spectra of 34 nearby, young Sun-like starswere analyzed using stellar atmosphere models to estimate effectivephotosphere temperatures, surface gravities, and the abundance ofcertain heavy elements (C, Na, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Ti, Fe, and Ni). Theeffective temperatures derived from spectroscopy were compared withtemperatures estimated using optical and near-infrared photometry. Inmany cases the spectroscopic temperatures are significantly higher thanthe photometric estimates, possibly as a result of spottedness orchromospheric activity on these active stars. Values of effectivetemperature, surface gravity, and luminosity were compared totheoretical stellar evolution tracks and the evolutionary status ofthese objects was evaluated. The correlation between heavy elementabundance patterns and kinematics (space motion) was also examined. Twonearby stars that were tentatively assigned to the Hyades cluster basedon kinematics have Fe abundances that are also consistent withmembership in that cluster. Members of the Ursa Major kinematic groupexhibit a range of [Fe/H] values but have monotonic [Si/Fe]. These twoobservations suggest that heterogeneous incorporation of the heavyelements into protostars is creating the variation in metallicity. LocalAssociation members have a distinctly different Si/Fe that probablyreflects their distinct origin and chemical inheritance.
| Astrometric radial velocities. III. Hipparcos measurements of nearby star clusters and associations
Radial motions of stars in nearby moving clusters are determined fromaccurate proper motions and trigonometric parallaxes, without any use ofspectroscopy. Assuming that cluster members share the same velocityvector (apart from a random dispersion), we apply a maximum-likelihoodmethod on astrometric data from Hipparcos to compute radial and spacevelocities (and their dispersions) in the Ursa Major, Hyades, ComaBerenices, Pleiades, and Praesepe clusters, and for theScorpius-Centaurus, alpha Persei, and ``HIP 98321'' associations. Theradial motion of the Hyades cluster is determined to within 0.4 kms-1 (standard error), and that of its individual stars towithin 0.6 km s-1. For other clusters, Hipparcos data yieldastrometric radial velocities with typical accuracies of a few kms-1. A comparison of these astrometric values withspectroscopic radial velocities in the literature shows a good generalagreement and, in the case of the best-determined Hyades cluster, alsopermits searches for subtle astrophysical differences, such as evidencefor enhanced convective blueshifts of F-dwarf spectra, and decreasedgravitational redshifts in giants. Similar comparisons for the ScorpiusOB2 complex indicate some expansion of its associations, albeit slowerthan expected from their ages. As a by-product from the radial-velocitysolutions, kinematically improved parallaxes for individual stars areobtained, enabling Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams with unprecedentedaccuracy in luminosity. For the Hyades (parallax accuracy 0.3 mas), itsmain sequence resembles a thin line, possibly with wiggles in it.Although this main sequence has underpopulated regions at certaincolours (previously suggested to be ``Böhm-Vitense gaps''), suchare not visible for other clusters, and are probably spurious. Futurespace astrometry missions carry a great potential for absoluteradial-velocity determinations, insensitive to the complexities ofstellar spectra. Based on observations by the ESA Hipparcos satellite.Extended versions of Tables \ref{tab1} and \ref{tab2} are available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.125.8) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/381/446
| Late-type members of young stellar kinematic groups - I. Single stars
This is the first paper of a series aimed at studying the properties oflate-type members of young stellar kinematic groups. We concentrate ourstudy on classical young moving groups such as the Local Association(Pleiades moving group, 20-150Myr), IC 2391 supercluster (35Myr), UrsaMajor group (Sirius supercluster, 300Myr), and Hyades supercluster(600Myr), as well as on recently identified groups such as the Castormoving group (200Myr). In this paper we compile a preliminary list ofsingle late-type possible members of some of these young stellarkinematic groups. Stars are selected from previously established membersof stellar kinematic groups based on photometric and kinematicproperties as well as from candidates based on other criteria such astheir level of chromospheric activity, rotation rate and lithiumabundance. Precise measurements of proper motions and parallaxes takenfrom the Hipparcos Catalogue, as well as from the Tycho-2 Catalogue, andpublished radial velocity measurements are used to calculate theGalactic space motions (U, V, W) and to apply Eggen's kinematic criteriain order to determine the membership of the selected stars to thedifferent groups. Additional criteria using age-dating methods forlate-type stars will be applied in forthcoming papers of this series. Afurther study of the list of stars compiled here could lead to a betterunderstanding of the chromospheric activity and their age evolution, aswell as of the star formation history in the solar neighbourhood. Inaddition, these stars are also potential search targets for directimaging detection of substellar companions.
| Levels of coronal and chromospheric activity in late-type stars and various types of dynamo waves
We analyze the X-ray emission and chromospheric activity of late-type F,G, and K stars studied in the framework of the HK project. More powerfulcoronas are possessed by stars displaying irregular variations of theirchromospheric emission, while stars with cyclic activity arecharacterized by comparatively modest X-ray luminosities and ratios ofthe X-ray to bolometric luminosity L X/L bol. This indicates that thenature of processes associated with magnetic-field amplification in theconvective envelope changes appreciably in the transition from small tolarge dynamo numbers, directly affecting the character of the(α-Ω) dynamo. Due to the strong dependence of both thedynamo number and the Rossby number on the speed of axial rotation,earlier correlations found between various activity parameters and theRossby number are consistent with our conclusions. Our analysis makes itpossible to draw the first firm conclusions about the place of solaractivity among analogous processes developing in active late-type stars.
| Spectroscopy and Photometry of Nearby Young Solar Analogs
We present new photometry and spectroscopy of 34 stars from a catalog of38 nearby (d<25 pc) G and K dwarfs selected as analogs to the earlySun. We report that the least active star in our sample is also slowlyrotating and probably of solar age. Two other stars appear to be evolvedobjects that have recently acquired angular momentum. A fourth star maybe a spectroscopic binary. Many of the other stars belong to previouslyidentified common proper-motion groups. Space motions, lithiumabundances, and Ca II emission of these stars suggest ages between 70and 800 Myr.
| Lithium and rotation on the subgiant branch. II. Theoretical analysis of observations
Lithium abundances and rotation, determined for 120 subgiant stars inLèbre et al. (1999) are analyzed. To this purpose, theevolutionary status of the sample as well as the individual masses havebeen determined using the HIPPARCOS trigonometric parallax measurementsto locate very precisely our sample stars in the HR diagram. We look atthe distributions of A_Li and Vsini with mass when stars evolve from themain sequence to the subgiant branch. For most of the stars in oursample we find good agreement with the dilution predictions. However,the more massive cool stars with upper limits of Li abundances show asignificant discrepancy with the theoretical predictions, even if theNon-LTE effects are taken into account. For the rotation behaviour, ouranalysis confirms that low mass stars leave the main sequence with a lowrotational rate, while more massive stars are slowed down only whenreaching the subgiant branch. We also checked the connection between theobserved rotation behaviour and the magnetic braking due to thedeepening of the convective envelope. Our results shed new light on thelithium and rotation discontinuities in the evolved phase.
| New discovery of weak-line T Tauri stars in high-Galactic latitude molecular clouds
Star formation efficiency in translucent molecular clouds has long beenan unresolved and key issue in the field of low-mass star formation. Inthis paper, we report on the results of our survey for low-mass starformation in high-Galactic latitude molecular clouds, especially thoseof the translucent category, based on the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. Nine newweak-line T Tauri star candidates have been discovered at high-Galacticlatitudes, among which, 6 are seen against - thus possibly associatedwith - the translucent molecular clouds, MBM 16, MBM 19 and MBM 55.Further study on the Li-rich X-ray active sources is necessary to shedmore light on star formation in translucent molecular clouds.
| Copper and barium abundances in the Ursa Major Moving Group
We present Cu and Ba abundances for seven GK dwarf stars, members of thesolar-metallicity, 0.3-Gyr-old Ursa Major Moving Group. All analysedmember stars show [Ba/Fe] excesses of +0.3-plus, associated with [Cu/Fe]deficiencies of up to -0.23 dex. The present results suggest that thereis an anticorrelation between the abundances of Cu and the heavyelements produced by the main component of the neutron-captures-process. Other possible anomalies are Na and C deficiencies withrespect to normal solar-metallicity stars. The new data do not confirmthe recent claim that the group member HR 6094 is a Ba dwarf star.
| A catalog of rotational and radial velocities for evolved stars
Rotational and radial velocities have been measured for about 2000evolved stars of luminosity classes IV, III, II and Ib covering thespectral region F, G and K. The survey was carried out with the CORAVELspectrometer. The precision for the radial velocities is better than0.30 km s-1, whereas for the rotational velocity measurementsthe uncertainties are typically 1.0 km s-1 for subgiants andgiants and 2.0 km s-1 for class II giants and Ib supergiants.These data will add constraints to studies of the rotational behaviourof evolved stars as well as solid informations concerning the presenceof external rotational brakes, tidal interactions in evolved binarysystems and on the link between rotation, chemical abundance and stellaractivity. In this paper we present the rotational velocity v sin i andthe mean radial velocity for the stars of luminosity classes IV, III andII. Based on observations collected at the Haute--Provence Observatory,Saint--Michel, France and at the European Southern Observatory, LaSilla, Chile. Table \ref{tab5} also available in electronic form at CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| Lithium in population I subgiants
We present a lithium survey for a sample of 91 Pop. I stars. JHKLphotometry was also obtained for 61 stars in the sample. Besides Liabundances, [Fe/H] values were derived. Thanks to Hipparcos parallaxes,we could infer absolute V magnitudes for our sample stars and were ableto place them on the color-magnitude diagram, which allowed us toconstrain their evolutionary status. Masses and ages were derived formost of the stars by comparison with evolutionary tracks. The sample wasoriginally selected so to include class IV stars later thanspectral-type F0, but, based on the location on the color-magnitudediagram, we found a posteriori that a fraction of the stars (about 20%)are either main sequence stars or evolved giants. As it is the case fordwarfs and giants, a large spread in lithium abundance is present amongthe subgiants in our sample. As expected, the average lithium decreasesas the stars evolve along the subgiant branch; however, there is not aone-to-one relationship between the position on the color-magnitudediagram and lithium abundance, and the observed dispersion is onlypartially explainable as due to a dispersion in mass, metallicity, andage. In particular, a dispersion in lithium is seen among slightlyevolved subgiants with masses close to solar but in the sameevolutionary stage as the G2 IV star beta Hyi. The comparison of thebeta Hyi-like sample with a sample of non evolved solar-like starsindeed suggests that beta Hyi has most likely evolved from a mainsequence Li-rich star, rather than from a Li-poor star (like the Sun)that has dredged-up previously stored lithium. Our sample includesseveral stars that have completed the first-dredge up lithium dilution,but that have not yet evolved to the evolutionary point whereextra-mixing in the giant phase is thought to occur. A large number ofthem have Li abundances considerably below the theoretical predictionsof first dredge-up dilution. We confirm that this is due to the factthat the progenitors of these stars are most likely stars that havedepleted lithium while on the main sequence; the fraction of post-dredgeup Li rich/poor stars, in fact, is consistent with the observeddistribution of Li abundances among stars that have just left the mainsequence. The signature of the second mixing (or RGB extra-mixing)episode is evident in the log n(Li) vs. B-V and log n(Li) vs. M_boldistributions of the stars in the sample; it seems however that theextra-mixing occurs at luminosities lower than predicted by the modelsof Charbonnel (1994). Finally, a few evolved giants are found thatshould have passed the second mixing episode, but that do not show signsof it. At least half of them are spectroscopic binaries. Based onobservations carried out at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla,Chile
| Lithium and rotation on the subgiant branch. I. Observations and spectral analysis
We have obtained new high resolution spectroscopic observations of thelithium line at 6707.81 Angstroms and derived lithium abundances (A_Li )by spectral synthesis for a sample of about 120 F-, G- and K-typePopulation I subgiant stars. For each of these stars, high precisionrotational velocity obtained with the CORAVEL spectrometer is available.We present the behavior of the lithium abundance as a function ofeffective temperature, which shows a sort of discontinuity around 5600K, somewhat later than the well known rotational discontinuity. based onobservations collected at the Observatoire de Haute--Provence (France)and at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla (Chile).
| Nearby Young Solar Analogs. I. Catalog and Stellar Characteristics
We present a catalog of 38 young solar analogs within 25 pc, stars thatare uniquely well suited for observations of their circumstellarenvironments to improve our understanding of conditions within the solarsystem during the Hadean/early Archean eons (prior to 3.8 Gyr ago).These G and early K stars were selected from the Hipparcos astrometriccatalog based on lack of known stellar companions within 800 AU,bolometric luminosities close to that of the zero-age Sun and consistentwith the zero-age main sequence, and ROSAT X-ray luminositiescommensurate with the higher rotation rate and level of dynamo-drivenactivity in solar-mass stars less than 0.8 Gyr old. While many of theseobjects have been previously identified, this sample is novel in tworespects: The selection criteria specifically consider the planetaryenvironment, and the selection is uniform and all-sky. The X-rayemission from these young analogs is spectrally soft and consistent witha coronal origin. Calcium H and K emission, rotation periods, lithiumabundances, and kinematics support an age range of 0.2-0.8 Gyr for mostof these stars. Three stars have exceptionally high space motions withrespect to the local standard of rest and may be old disk or halo starsthat are anomalously X-ray luminous.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Stier |
| Right ascension: | 04h15m29.20s |
| Declination: | +06°11'12.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 6.31 |
| Distance: | 21.186 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -111.1 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -106.3 |
| B-T magnitude: | 7.009 |
| V-T magnitude: | 6.377 |
Catalogs and designations:
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