No Arabic abstract
The young $sigma$-Orionis cluster is an important location for understanding the formation and evolution of stars, brown dwarfs, and planetary-mass objects. Its metallicity, although being a fundamental parameter, has not been well determined yet. We present the first determination of the metallicity of nine young late-type stars in $sigma$-Orionis. Using the optical and near-infrared broadband photometry available in the literature we derive the effective temperatures for these nine cluster stars, which lie in the interval 4300--6500 K (1--3 Msuno). These parameters are employed to compute a grid of synthetic spectra based on the code MOOG and Kurucz model atmospheres. We employ a $chi^2$-minimization procedure to derive the stellar surface gravity and atmospheric abundances of Al, Ca, Si, Fe, Ni and Li, using multi-object optical spectroscopy taken with WYFFOS+AF2 at at the William Herschel Telescope ($lambda/deltalambdasim7500$). The average metallicity of the $sigma$-Orionis cluster is [Fe/H] $ = -0.02pm0.09pm0.13$ (random and systematic errors). The abundances of the other elements, except lithium, seem to be consistent with solar values. Lithium abundances are in agreement with the cosmic $^7$Li abundance, except for two stars which show a $log epsilon(mathrm{Li})$ in the range 3.6--3.7 (although almost consistent within the error bars). There are also other two stars with $log epsilon(mathrm{Li})sim 2.75$. We derived an average radial velocity of the $sigma$-Orionis cluster of $28pm4$km/s. The $sigma$-Orionis metallicity is roughly solar.
We study the sodium D lines (D1: 5895.92 AA; D2: 5889.95 AA) in late-type dwarf stars. The stars have spectral types between F6 and M5.5 (B-V between 0.457 and 1.807) and metallicity between [Fe/H] = -0.82 and 0.6. We obtained medium resolution echelle spectra using the 2.15-m telescope at the argentinian observatory CASLEO. The observations have been performed periodically since 1999. The spectra were calibrated in wavelength and in flux. A definition of the pseudo-continuum level is found for all our observations. We also define a continuum level for calibration purposes. The equivalent width of the D lines is computed in detail for all our spectra and related to the colour index (B-V) of the stars. When possible, we perform a careful comparison with previous studies. Finally, we construct a spectral index (R_D) as the ratio between the flux in the D lines, and the bolometric flux. We find that, once corrected for the photospheric contribution, this index can be used as a chromospheric activity indicator in stars with a high level of activity. Additionally, we find that combining some of our results, we obtain a method to calibrate in flux stars of unknown colour.
We present results of multi-epoch (fourteen nights during 2007-2010) $V$-band photometry of the cluster NGC 1893 region to identify photometric variable stars in the cluster. The study identified a total of 53 stars showing photometric variability. The members associated with the region are identified on the basis of spectral energy distribution, $J-H/H-K$ two colour diagram and $V/V-I$ colour-magnitude diagram. The ages and masses of the majority of pre-main-sequence sources are found to be $lesssim$ 5 Myr and in the range 0.5 $lesssim$ $M/M_{odot}$ $lesssim$ 4, respectively. These pre-main-sequence sources hence could be T Tauri stars. We also determined the physical parameters like disk mass and accretion rate from the spectral energy distribution of these T Tauri stars. The periods of majority of the T Tauri stars range from 0.1 to 20 day. The brightness of Classical T Tauri stars is found to vary with larger amplitude in comparison to Weak line T Tauri stars. It is found that the amplitude decreases with increase in mass, which could be due to the dispersal of disks of massive stars.
We studied the thermal properties and chemical composition of the X-ray emitting plasma of a sample of bright members of the Taurus Molecular Cloud to investigate possible differences among classical and weak-lined T Tauri stars and possible dependences of the abundances on the stellar activity level and/or on the presence of accretion/circumstellar material. We used medium-resolution X-ray spectra obtained with the sensitive EPIC/PN camera in order to analyse the possible sample. The PN spectra of 20 bright (L_X ~ 10^30 - 10^31 erg/s) Taurus members, with at least ~ 4500 counts, were fitted using thermal models of optically thin plasma with two components and variable abundances of O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe. Extensive preliminary investigations were employed to study the performances of the PN detectors regarding abundance determinations, and finally to check the results of the fittings. We found that the observed X-ray emission of the studied stars can be attributed to coronal plasma having similar thermal properties and chemical composition both in the classical and in the weak-lined T Tauri stars. The results of the fittings did not show evidence for correlations of the abundance patterns with activity or accretion/disk presence. The iron abundance of these active stars is significantly lower than (~ 0.2 of) the solar photospheric value. An indication of slightly different coronal properties in stars with different spectral type is found from this study. G-type and early K-type stars have, on average, slightly higher Fe abundances (Fe ~ 0.24 solar) with respect to stars with later spectral type (Fe ~ 0.15 solar), confirming previous findings from high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy; stars of the former group are also found to have, on average, hotter coronae.
The bulk of X-ray emission from pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars is coronal in origin. We demonstrate herein that stars on Henyey tracks in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram have lower $log(L_X/L_ast)$, on average, than stars on Hayashi tracks. This effect is driven by the decay of $L_X$ once stars develop radiative cores. $L_X$ decays faster with age for intermediate mass PMS stars, the progenitors of main sequence A-type stars, compared to those of lower mass. As almost all main sequence A-type stars show no detectable X-ray emission, we may already be observing the loss of their coronae during their PMS evolution. Although there is no direct link between the size or mass of the radiative core and $L_X$, the longer stars have spent with partially convective interiors, the weaker their X-ray emission becomes. This conference paper is a synopsis of Gregory, Adams and Davies (2016).
We present initial result of a large spectroscopic survey aimed at measuring the timescale of mass accretion in young, pre-main-sequence stars in the spectral type range K0 - M5. Using multi-object spectroscopy with VIMOS at the VLT we identified the fraction of accreting stars in a number of young stellar clusters and associations of ages between 1 - 50 Myr. The fraction of accreting stars decreases from ~60% at 1.5 - 2 Myr to ~2% at 10 Myr. No accreting stars are found after 10 Myr at a sensitivity limit of $10^{-11}$ Msun yr-1. We compared the fraction of stars showing ongoing accretion (f_acc) to the fraction of stars with near-to-mid infrared excess (f_IRAC). In most cases we find f_acc < f_IRAC, i.e., mass accretion appears to cease (or drop below detectable level) earlier than the dust is dissipated in the inner disk. At 5 Myr, 95% of the stellar population has stopped accreting material at a rate of > 10^{-11} Msun yr-1, while ~20% of the stars show near-infrared excess emission. Assuming an exponential decay, we measure a mass accretion timescale (t_acc) of 2.3 Myr, compared to a near-to-mid infrared excess timescale (t_IRAC) of 2.9 Myr. Planet formation, and/or migration, in the inner disk might be a viable mechanism to halt further accretion onto the central star on such a short timescale.