Engineering topics

Riedel, Adric R.

Publications and source records attributed to Riedel, Adric R..

10 records

DOE OSTI2019

Radial Velocities, Space Motions, and Nearby Young Moving Group Memberships of Eleven Candidate Young Brown Dwarfs

We present new radial velocity (RV) measurements for 11 candidate young very-low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, with spectral types from M7 to L7. Candidate young objects were identified by features indicative of low surface gravity in their optical and/or near-infrared spectra. RV measurements are derived from high-resolution (R =λ/Δλ = 20,000) J-band spectra taken with NIRSPEC at the Keck Observatory. We combine RVs with proper motions and trigonometric distances to calculate three-dimensional space positions and motions and to evaluate membership probabilities for nearby young moving groups (NYMGs). We propose 2MASS J00452143+1634446 (L2β, J = 13.06) as an RV standard given the precision and stability of measurements from three different studies. We test the precision and accuracy of our RV measurements as a function of spectral type of the comparison object, finding that RV results are essentially indistinguishable even with differences of ±5 spectral subtypes. We also investigate the strengths of gravity-sensitive K i lines at 1.24–1.25 μm and evaluate their consistency with other age indicators. We confirm or reconfirm four brown dwarf members of NYMGs—2MASS J00452143+1634446, WISE J00470038+6803543, 2MASS J011747483403258, and 2MASS J193555952846343—and their previous age estimates. We identify one new brown dwarf member of the Carina-Near moving group, 2M2154−10. The remaining objects do not appear to be members of any known NYMGs, despite their spectral signatures of youth. These results add to the growing number of very-low-mass objects exhibiting signatures of youth that lack likely membership in a known NYMG, thereby compounding the mystery regarding local, low-density star formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Young Stars with SALT

We present a spectroscopic and kinematic analysis of 79 nearby M dwarfs in 77 systems. All of these dwarfs are low-proper-motion southern hemisphere objects and were identified in a nearby star survey with a demonstrated sensitivity to young stars. Using low-resolution optical spectroscopy from the Red Side Spectrograph on the South African Large Telescope, we have determined radial velocities, H-alpha, lithium 6708 Å, and potassium 7699 Å equivalent widths linked to age and activity, and spectral types for all of our targets. Combined with astrometric information from literature sources, we identify 44 young stars. Eighteen are previously known members of moving groups within 100 pc of the Sun. Twelve are new members, including one member of the TW Hydra moving group, one member of the 32 Orionis moving group, 9 members of Tucana-Horologium, one member of Argus, and two new members of AB Doradus. We also find 14 young star systems that are not members of any known groups. The remaining 33 star systems do not appear to be young. This appears to be evidence of a new population of nearby young stars not related to the known nearby young moving groups.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

LACEwING: A New Moving Group Analysis Code

We present a new nearby young moving group (NYMG) kinematic membership analysis code, LocAting Constituent mEmbers In Nearby Groups (LACEwING), a new Catalog of Suspected Nearby Young Stars, a new list of bona fide members of moving groups, and a kinematic traceback code. LACEwING is a convergence-style algorithm with carefully vetted membership statistics based on a large numerical simulation of the Solar Neighborhood. Given spatial and kinematic information on stars, LACEwING calculates membership probabilities in 13 NYMGs and three open clusters within 100 pc. In addition to describing the inputs, methods, and products of the code, we provide comparisons of LACEwING to other popular kinematic moving group membership identification codes. As a proof of concept, we use LACEwING to reconsider the membership of 930 stellar systems in the Solar Neighborhood (within 100 pc) that have reported measurable lithium equivalent widths. We quantify the evidence in support of a population of young stars not attached to any NYMGs, which is a possible sign of new as-yet-undiscovered groups or of a field population of young stars.

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DOE OSTI2016

POPULATION PROPERTIES OF BROWN DWARF ANALOGS TO EXOPLANETS

We present a kinematic analysis of 152 low surface gravity M7-L8 dwarfs by adding 18 new parallaxes (including 10 for comparative field objects), 38 new radial velocities, and 19 new proper motions. We also add low- or moderate-resolution near-infrared spectra for 43 sources confirming their low surface gravity features. Among the full sample, we find 39 objects to be high-likelihood or new bona fide members of nearby moving groups, 92 objects to be ambiguous members and 21 objects that are non-members. Using this age-calibrated sample, we investigate trends in gravity classification, photometric color, absolute magnitude, color–magnitude, luminosity, and effective temperature. We find that gravity classification and photometric color clearly separate 5–130 Myr sources from >3 Gyr field objects, but they do not correlate one to one with the narrower 5–130 Myr age range. Sources with the same spectral subtype in the same group have systematically redder colors, but they are distributed between 1 and 4 σ from the field sequences and the most extreme outlier switches between intermediate- and low-gravity sources either confirmed in a group or not. The absolute magnitudes of low-gravity sources from the J band through W 3 show a flux redistribution when compared to equivalently typed field brown dwarfs that is correlated with spectral subtype. Low-gravity, late-type L dwarfs are fainter at J than the field sequence but brighter by W 3. Low-gravity M dwarfs are >1 mag brighter than field dwarfs in all bands from J through W 3. Clouds, which are a far more dominant opacity source for L dwarfs, are the likely cause. On color–magnitude diagrams, the latest-type, low-gravity L dwarfs drive the elbow of the L/T transition up to 1 mag redder and 1 mag fainter than field dwarfs at M{sub J} but are consistent with or brighter than the elbow at M{sub W1} and M{sub W2}. We conclude that low-gravity dwarfs carry an extreme version of the cloud conditions of field objects to lower temperatures, which logically extends into the lowest-mass, directly imaged exoplanets. Furthermore, there is an indication on color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs; such as M{sub J} versus (J – W 2)) of increasingly redder sequences separated by gravity classification, although it is not consistent across all CMD combinations. Examining bolometric luminosities for planets and low-gravity objects, we confirm that (in general) young M dwarfs are overluminous while young L dwarfs are normal compared to the field. Using model extracted radii, this translates into normal to slightly warmer M dwarf temperatures compared to the field sequence and lower temperatures for L dwarfs with no obvious correlation with the assigned moving group.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

A HIGH-PRECISION NEAR-INFRARED SURVEY FOR RADIAL VELOCITY VARIABLE LOW-MASS STARS USING CSHELL AND A METHANE GAS CELL

We present the results of a precise near-infrared (NIR) radial velocity (RV) survey of 32 low-mass stars with spectral types K2–M4 using CSHELL at the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility in the K band with an isotopologue methane gas cell to achieve wavelength calibration and a novel, iterative RV extraction method. We surveyed 14 members of young (≈25–150 Myr) moving groups, the young field star ε Eridani, and 18 nearby (<25 pc) low-mass stars and achieved typical single-measurement precisions of 8–15 m s{sup −1}with a long-term stability of 15–50 m s{sup −1} over longer baselines. We obtain the best NIR RV constraints to date on 27 targets in our sample, 19 of which were never followed by high-precision RV surveys. Our results indicate that very active stars can display long-term RV variations as low as ∼25–50 m s{sup −1} at ≈2.3125 μ m, thus constraining the effect of jitter at these wavelengths. We provide the first multiwavelength confirmation of GJ 876 bc and independently retrieve orbital parameters consistent with previous studies. We recovered RV variabilities for HD 160934 AB and GJ 725 AB that are consistent with their known binary orbits, and nine other targets are candidate RV variables with a statistical significance of 3 σ –5 σ . Our method, combined with the new iSHELL spectrograph, will yield long-term RV precisions of ≲5 m s{sup −1} in the NIR, which will allow the detection of super-Earths near the habitable zone of mid-M dwarfs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The solar neighborhood. XXXIV. A search for planets orbiting nearby M dwarfs using astrometry

Astrometric measurements are presented for seven nearby stars with previously detected planets: six M dwarfs (GJ 317, GJ 667C, GJ 581, GJ 849, GJ 876, and GJ 1214) and one K dwarf (BD-10 -3166). Measurements are also presented for six additional nearby M dwarfs without known planets, but which are more favorable to astrometric detections of low mass companions, as well as three binary systems for which we provide astrometric orbit solutions. Observations have baselines of 3 to 13 years, and were made as part of the RECONS long-term astrometry and photometry program at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9 m telescope. We provide trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions for all 16 systems, and perform an extensive analysis of the astrometric residuals to determine the minimum detectable companion mass for the 12 M dwarfs not having close stellar secondaries. For the six M dwarfs with known planets, we are not sensitive to planets, but can rule out the presence of all but the least massive brown dwarfs at periods of 2–12 years. For the six more astrometrically favorable M dwarfs, we conclude that none have brown dwarf companions, and are sensitive to companions with masses as low as 1 M{sub Jup} for periods longer than two years. In particular, we conclude that Proxima Centauri has no Jovian companions at orbital periods of 2–12 years. These results complement previously published M dwarf planet occurrence rates by providing astrometrically determined upper mass limits on potential super-Jupiter companions at orbits of two years and longer. As part of a continuing survey, these results are consistent with the paucity of super-Jupiter and brown dwarf companions we find among the over 250 red dwarfs within 25 pc observed longer than five years in our astrometric program.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The solar neighborhood. XXXII. The hydrogen burning limit

We construct a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for the stellar/substellar boundary based on a sample of 63 objects ranging in spectral type from M6V to L4. We report newly observed VRI photometry for all 63 objects and new trigonometric parallaxes for 37 objects. The remaining 26 objects have trigonometric parallaxes from the literature. We combine our optical photometry and trigonometric parallaxes with 2MASS and WISE photometry and employ a novel spectral energy distribution fitting algorithm to determine effective temperatures, bolometric luminosities, and radii. Our uncertainties range from ∼20 K to ∼150 K in temperature, ∼0.01 to ∼0.06 in log (L/L {sub ☉}) and ∼3% to ∼10% in radius. We check our methodology by comparing our calculated radii to radii directly measured via long baseline optical interferometry. We find evidence for the local minimum in the radius-temperature and radius-luminosity trends that signals the end of the stellar main sequence and the start of the brown dwarf sequence at T {sub eff} ∼ 2075 K, log (L/L {sub ☉}) ∼ –3.9, and (R/R {sub ☉}) ∼ 0.086. The existence of this local minimum is predicted by evolutionary models, but at temperatures ∼400 K cooler. The minimum radius happens near the locus of 2MASS J0523–1403, an L2.5 dwarf with V – K = 9.42. We make qualitative arguments as to why the effects of the recent revision in solar abundances accounts for the discrepancy between our findings and the evolutionary models. We also report new color-absolute magnitude relations for optical and infrared colors which are useful for estimating photometric distances. We study the optical variability of all 63 targets and find an overall variability fraction of 36{sub −7}{sup +9}% at a threshold of 15 mmag in the I band, which is in agreement with previous studies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The solar neighborhood. XXXIII. Parallax results from the CTIOPI 0.9 m program: trigonometric parallaxes of Nearby low-mass active and young systems

We present basic observational data and association membership analysis for 45 young and active low-mass stellar systems from the ongoing Research Consortium On Nearby Stars photometry and astrometry program at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Most of these systems have saturated X-ray emission (log (L{sub X} /L {sub bol}) > –3.5) based on X-ray fluxes from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, and many are significantly more luminous than main-sequence stars of comparable color. We present parallaxes and proper motions, Johnson-Kron-Cousins VRI photometry, and multiplicity observations from the CTIOPI program on the CTIO 0.9 m telescope. To this we add low-resolution optical spectroscopy and line measurements from the CTIO 1.5 m telescope, and interferometric binary measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensors. We also incorporate data from published sources: JHK{sub S} photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey point source catalog, X-ray data from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, and radial velocities from literature sources. Within the sample of 45 systems, we identify 21 candidate low-mass pre-main-sequence members of nearby associations, including members of β Pictoris, TW Hydrae, Argus, AB Doradus, two ambiguous ≈30 Myr old systems, and one object that may be a member of the Ursa Major moving group. Of the 21 candidate young systems, 14 are newly identified as a result of this work, and six of those are within 25 pc of the Sun.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The solar neighborhood. XXXI. Discovery of an unusual red+white dwarf binary at ∼25 pc via astrometry and UV imaging

We report the discovery of a nearby M5.0V dwarf at 24.6 pc, SCR 1848–6855, that is orbited by an unusual companion causing an astrometric perturbation of more than 200 mas. This is by far the largest perturbation found to date among more than 700 targets observed during our long-term astrometry/photometry program at the CTIO 0.9 m telescope. We present here a suite of astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic observations of this high proper motion (∼1.''3 yr{sup –1}) system in an effort to reveal the nature of this unusual binary. The measured near-UV and optical U band fluxes exceed those expected for comparable M5.0V stars, and excess flux is also detected in the spectral range 4000-7000 Å. The elusive companion has been detected in HST-STIS+MAMA images at 1820 Å and 2700 Å, and our analysis shows that it is probably a rare, cool, white dwarf with T = 4600-5500 K. Given the long-term astrometric coverage, the prospects for an accurate mass determination are excellent, although as yet we can only provide limits on the unusual companion's mass.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

The solar neighborhood. XXX. Fomalhaut C

LP 876-10 is a nearby active M4 dwarf in Aquarius at a distance of 7.6 pc. The star is a new addition to the 10 pc census, with a parallax measured via the REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) astrometric survey on the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System's 0.9 m telescope. We demonstrate that the astrometry, radial velocity, and photometric data for LP 876-10 are consistent with the star being a third bound stellar component to the Fomalhaut multiple system, despite the star lying nearly 6° away from Fomalhaut A in the sky. The three-dimensional separation of LP 876-10 from Fomalhaut is only 0.77 ± 0.01 pc, and 0.987 ± 0.006 pc from TW PsA (Fomalhaut B), well within the estimated tidal radius of the Fomalhaut system (1.9 pc). LP 876-10 shares the motion of Fomalhaut within ∼1 km s{sup –1}, and we estimate an interloper probability of ∼10{sup –5}. Neither our echelle spectroscopy nor astrometry are able to confirm the close companion to LP 876-10 reported in the Washington Double Star Catalog (WSI 138). We argue that the Castor Moving Group to which the Fomalhaut system purportedly belongs, is likely to be a dynamical stream, and hence membership to the group does not provide useful age constraints for group members. LP 876-10 (Fomalhaut C) has now risen from obscurity to become a rare example of a field M dwarf with well-constrained age (440 ± 40 Myr) and metallicity. Besides harboring a debris disk system and candidate planet, Fomalhaut now has two of the widest known stellar companions.

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