scholarly journals Measurements of the Ca ii infrared triplet emission lines of pre-main-sequence stars

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai Yamashita ◽  
Yoichi Itoh ◽  
Yuhei Takagi

Abstract We investigated the chromospheric activity of 60 pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars in four molecular clouds and five moving groups. It is considered that strong chromospheric activity is driven by the dynamo processes generated by stellar rotation. In contrast, several researchers have pointed out that the chromospheres of PMS stars are activated by mass accretion from their protoplanetary disks. In this study, the Ca ii infrared triplet (IRT) emission lines were investigated utilizing medium- and high-resolution spectroscopy. The observations were conducted with Nayuta/MALLS and Subaru/HDS. Additionally, archive data obtained by Keck/HIRES, VLT/UVES, and VLT/X-Shooter were used. The small ratios of the equivalent widths indicate that Ca ii IRT emission lines arise primarily in dense chromospheric regions. Seven PMS stars show broad emission lines. Among them, four PMS stars have more than one order of magnitude brighter emission line fluxes compared to the low-mass stars in young open clusters. The four PMS stars have a high mass accretion rate, which indicates that the broad and strong emission results from a large mass accretion. However, most PMS stars exhibit narrow emission lines. No significant correlation was found between the accretion rate and flux of the emission line. The ratios of the surface flux of the Ca ii IRT lines to the stellar bolometric luminosity, $R^{\prime }_{\rm IRT}$, of the PMS stars with narrow emission lines are as large as the largest $R^{\prime }_{\rm IRT}$ of the low-mass stars in the young open clusters. This result indicates that most PMS stars, even in the classical T Tauri star stage, have chromospheric activity similar to zero-age main-sequence stars.

1984 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 123-138
Author(s):  
R.D. Cannon

This review will attempt to do two things: (i) discuss some of the data which are available for testing the theory of evolution of low mass stars, and (ii) point out some problem areas where observations and theory do not seem to agree very well. This is of course too vast a field of research to be covered in one brief review, so I shall concentrate on one particular aspect, namely the study of star clusters and especially their colour-magnitude (CM) diagrams. Star clusters provide large samples of stars at the same distance and with the same age, and the CM diagram gives the easiest way of comparing theoretical predictions with observations, although crucial evidence is also provided by spectroscopic abundance analyses and studies of variable stars. Since this is primarily a review of observational data it is natural to divide it into two parts: (i) galactic globular clusters, and (ii) old and intermediate-age open clusters. Some additional evidence comes from Local Group galaxies, especially now that CM diagrams which reach the old main sequence are becoming available. For each class of cluster I shall consider successive stages of evolution from the main sequence, up the hydrogen-burning red giant branch, and through the helium-burning giant phase.


2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (2) ◽  
pp. 1978-1983
Author(s):  
Nate Bastian ◽  
Sebastian Kamann ◽  
Louis Amard ◽  
Corinne Charbonnel ◽  
Lionel Haemmerlé ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We address the origin of the observed bimodal rotational distribution of stars in massive young and intermediate age stellar clusters. This bimodality is seen as split main sequences at young ages and also has been recently directly observed in the Vsini distribution of stars within massive young and intermediate age clusters. Previous models have invoked binary interactions as the origin of this bimodality, although these models are unable to reproduce all of the observational constraints on the problem. Here, we suggest that such a bimodal rotational distribution is set-up early within a cluster’s life, i.e. within the first few Myr. Observations show that the period distribution of low-mass ($\lesssim\! 2 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$) pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars is bimodal in many young open clusters, and we present a series of models to show that if such a bimodality exists for stars on the PMS that it is expected to manifest as a bimodal rotational velocity (at fixed mass/luminosity) on the main sequence for stars with masses in excess of ∼1.5 M⊙. Such a bimodal period distribution of PMS stars may be caused by whether stars have lost (rapid rotators) or been able to retain (slow rotators) their circumstellar discs throughout their PMS lifetimes. We conclude with a series of predictions for observables based on our model.


1988 ◽  
Vol 132 ◽  
pp. 95-98
Author(s):  
J. Bouvier

Until 1980, only a handful of low-mass, active pre-main sequence (pms) stars had known rotation velocities (vsini) /1/. Since then, increasingly sensitive detectors coupled to large telescopes led to high–resolution (a few 104) spectroscopic studies of these faint stars (mv = 10–13), with S/N ratio of the order of 100. The measurement of vsini for large samples of pms stars that resulted brought new insights on various pressing questions related to stellar formation and early stellar evolution : how do the rotation rates of pms stars compare with those expected from models of stellar formation ? how does the stellar angular momentum change during pms evolution ? is pms activity linked with rotation as would be expected if activity were triggered by magnetic processes ?


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S243) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérôme Bouvier

AbstractStar-disk interaction is thought to drive the angular momentum evolution of young stars. In this review, I present the latest results obtained on the rotational properties of low mass and very low mass pre-main sequence stars. I discuss the evidence for extremely efficient angular momentum removal over the first few Myr of pre-main sequence evolution and describe recent results that support an accretion-driven braking mechanism. Angular momentum evolution models are presented and their implication for accretion disk lifetimes discussed.


1981 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 361-371
Author(s):  
R. Ebert ◽  
H. Zinnecker

AbstractIn this paper we present a fully hydrodynamical treatment of the stationary isothermal accretion problem onto a moving gravitating point mass. The derivation is purely analytical. We find that the accretion rate is more than a factor of 50 higher than the accretion rate derived from the partially non-hydrodynamical treatment by Hoyle and Lyttleton (1939) or Bondi and Hoyle (1944). This result may have some bearing on the evolutionary tracks of young pre-Main Sequence stars still embedded in their parent protocluster cloud. We discuss the work by Federova (1979) who investigated the pre-Main Sequence evolution of degenerate low mass ‘stars’ with strong accretion of protocluster cloud material. We suggest that the stars which lie below the Main Sequence in young clusters could strongly accrete matter at the pre-Main Sequence stage.


1999 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 121-130
Author(s):  
G. W. Marcy ◽  
R. Paul Butler ◽  
D. A. Fischer

AbstractWe have measured the radial velocities of 540 G and K main sequence stars with a precision of 3−10 ms−1 using the Lick and Keck échelle spectrometers. We had detected 6 companions that have m sin i < 7 MJup. We announce here the discovery of a new planet around Gliese 876, found in our Doppler measurements from both Lick and Keck. This is the first planet found around an M dwarf, which indicates that planets occur around low-mass stars, in addition to solar-type stars. We combine our entire stellar sample with that of Mayor et al. to derive general properties of giant planets within a few AU of these stars. Less than 1% of G and K main sequence stars harbor brown dwarf companions with masses between 5 and 70 MJup. Including Gliese 876b, 8 companions exhibit m sin i < 5 MJup which constitute the best planet candidates to date. Apparently, 4% of stars have planetary companions within the range m sin i = 0.5 to 5 MJup. Planets are distinguished from brown dwarfs by the discontinuous jump in the mass function at 5 MJup. About 2/3 of the planets orbit within just 0.3 AU due in part to their favorable detectability, but also possibly due to a real “pile up” of planets near the star. Inward orbital migration after formation may explain this, but the mechanism to stop the migration remains unclear. Five of eight planets have orbital eccentricities greater than that of our Jupiter, eJup = 0.048, and tidal circularization may explain most of the circular orbits. Thus, eccentric orbits are common and may arise from gravitational interactions with other planets, stars, or the protoplanetary disk. The planet-bearing stars are systematically metal-rich, as is the Sun, compared to the solar neighborhood.


2004 ◽  
Vol 219 ◽  
pp. 228-232
Author(s):  
K. Briggs ◽  
M. Güdel ◽  
M. Audard ◽  
K. Smith ◽  
R. Mewe ◽  
...  

X-ray emission from > 100 pre-main sequence (PMS) stars in the Orion star-forming complex is studied in a 20-ks observation by XMM-Newton. No relation between the ratio of X-ray and bolometric luminosities, LX/Lbol, and rotation period or Rossby number is exhibited, though the action of a solar-like dynamo is not excluded because all stars would appear to be in the “saturated regime” of such a dynamo. Low-mass stars showing a strong U — V excess have lower median X-ray luminosity, suggesting that accretion suppresses magnetic activity.


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