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Register a new userThe Factory and The Beehive I. Rotation Periods For Low-Mass Stars in Praesepe
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Marcel Agueros
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Stellar rotation periods measured from single-age populations are critical for investigating how stellar angular momentum content evolves over time, how that evolution depends on mass, and how rotation influences the stellar dynamo and the magnetically heated chromosphere and corona. We report rotation periods for 40 late-K to mid-M stars members of the nearby, rich, intermediate-age (~600 Myr) open cluster Praesepe. These rotation periods were derived from ~200 observations taken by the Palomar Transient Factory of four cluster fields from 2010 February to May. Our measurements indicate that Praesepes mass-period relation transitions from a well-defined singular relation to a more scattered distribution of both fast and slow rotators at ~0.6 Msun. The location of this transition is broadly consistent with expectations based on observations of younger clusters and the assumption that stellar-spin down is the dominant mechanism influencing angular momentum evolution at 600 Myr. However, a comparison to data recently published for the Hyades, assumed to be coeval to Praesepe, indicates that the divergence from a singular mass-period relation occurs at different characteristic masses, strengthening the finding that Praesepe is the younger of the two clusters. We also use previously published relations describing the evolution of rotation periods as a function of color and mass to evolve the sample of Praesepe periods in time. Comparing the resulting predictions to periods measured in M35 and NGC 2516 (~150 Myr) and for kinematically selected young and old field star populations suggests that stellar spin-down may progress more slowly than described by these relations.
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We investigate the rotation periods of fully convective very low mass stars (VLM, M<0.3 Msol), with the aim to derive empirical constraints for the spindown due to magnetically driven stellar winds. Our analysis is based on a new sample of rotation periods in the main-sequence cluster Praesepe (age 600 Myr). From photometric lightcurves obtained with the Isaac Newton Telescope, we measure rotation periods for 49 objects, among them 26 in the VLM domain. This enlarges the period sample in this mass and age regime by a factor of 6. Almost all VLM objects in our sample are fast rotators with periods <2.5 d, in contrast to the stars with M>0.6 Msol in this cluster which have periods of 7-14 d. Thus, we confirm that the period-mass distribution in Praesepe exhibits a radical break at M~0.3-0.6 Msol. Our data indicate a positive period-mass trend in the VLM regime, similar to younger clusters. In addition, the scatter of the periods increases with mass. For the M>0.3 Msol objects in our sample the period distribution is probably affected by binarity. By comparing the Praesepe periods with literature samples in the cluster NGC2516 (age ~150 Myr) we constrain the spindown in the VLM regime. An exponential rotational braking law P ~ exp(t/tau) with a mass-dependent tau is required to reproduce the data. The spindown timescale tau increases steeply towards lower masses; we derive tau~0.5 Gyr for 0.3 Msol and >1 Gyr for 0.1 Msol. These constraints are consistent with the current paradigm of the spindown due to wind braking. We discuss possible physical origins of this behaviour and prospects for future work.
The cluster Praesepe (age 650 Myr) is an ideal laboratory to study stellar evolution. Specifically, it allows us to trace the long-term decline of rotation and activity on the main-sequence. Here we present rotation periods measured for five stars in Praesepe with masses of 0.1-0.5Ms -- the first rotation periods for members of this cluster. Photometric periodicities were found from two extensive monitoring campaigns, and are confirmed by multiple independent test procedures. We attribute these variations to magnetic spots co-rotating with the objects, thus indicating the rotation period. The five periods, ranging from 5 to 84h, show a clear positive correlation with object mass, a trend which has been reported previously in younger clusters. When comparing with data for F-K stars in the coeval Hyades, we find a dramatic drop in the periods at spectral type K8-M2 (corresponding to 0.4-0.6Ms). A comparison with periods of VLM stars in younger clusters provides a constraint on the spin-down timescale: We find that the exponential rotational braking timescale is clearly longer than 200 Myr, most likely 400-800 Myr. These results are not affected by the small sample size in the rotation periods. Both findings, the steep drop in the period-mass relation and the long spin-down timescale, indicate a substantial change in the angular momentum loss mechanism for very low mass objects, possibly the breakdown of the solar-type (Skumanich) rotational braking. While the physical origin for this behaviour is unclear, we argue that parts of it might be explained by the disappearance of the radiative core and the resulting breakdown of an interface-type dynamo in the VLM regime. Rotational studies in this mass range hold great potential to probe magnetic properties and interior structure of main-sequence stars.
The fundamental properties of low-mass stars are not as well understood as those of their more massive counterparts. The best method for constraining these properties, especially masses and radii, is to study eclipsing binary systems, but only a small number of late-type (M0 or later) systems have been identified and well-characterized to date. We present the discovery and characterization of six new M dwarf eclipsing binary systems. The twelve stars in these eclipsing systems have masses spanning 0.38-0.59 Msun and orbital periods of 0.6--1.7 days, with typical uncertainties of ~0.3% in mass and 0.5--2.0% in radius. Combined with six known systems with high-precision measurements, our results reveal an intriguing trend in the low-mass regime. For stars with M=0.35-0.80 Msun, components in short-period binary systems (P<1 day; 12 stars) have radii which are inflated by up to 10% (mean=4.8+/-1.0%) with respect to evolutionary models for low-mass main-sequence stars, whereas components in longer-period systems (>1.5 days; 12 stars) tend to have smaller radii (mean=1.7+/-0.7%). This trend supports the hypothesis that short-period systems are inflated by the influence of the close companion, most likely because they are tidally locked into very high rotation speeds that enhance activity and inhibit convection. In summary, very close binary systems are not representative of typical M dwarfs, but our results for longer-period systems indicate that the evolutionary models are broadly valid in the M~0.35-0.80 Msun regime.
We report on the results of a time-series photometric survey of M50 (NGC 2323), a ~130 Myr open cluster, carried out using the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope and Mosaic-II detector as part of the Monitor project. Rotation periods were derived for 812 candidate cluster members over the mass range 0.2 <~ M/Msol <~ 1.1. The rotation period distributions show a clear mass-dependent morphology, statistically indistinguishable from those in NGC 2516 and M35 taken from the literature. Due to the availability of data from three observing runs separated by ~10 and 1 month timescales, we are able to demonstrate clear evidence for evolution of the photometric amplitudes, and hence spot patterns, over the 10 month gap, although we are not able to constrain the timescales for these effects in detail due to limitations imposed by the large gaps in our sampling, preventing use of the phase information.
[Abridged] In this paper, we present the results of a photometric survey to identify low mass and brown dwarf members of the old open cluster Praesepe (age of 590[+150][-120]Myr and distance of 190[+6.0][-5.8]pc) and use this to infer its mass function which we compare with that of other clusters. We have performed an optical (Ic-band) and near-infrared (J and Ks-band) photometric survey of Praesepe with a spatial coverage of 3.1deg^2. With 5sigma detection limits of Ic=23.4 and J=20.0, our survey is sensitive to objects with masses from about 0.6 to 0.05Msol. The mass function of Praesepe rises from 0.6Msol down to 0.1Msol and then turns-over at ~0.1Msol. The rise observed is in agreement with the mass function derived by previous studies, including a survey based on proper motion and photometry. Comparing our mass function with that for another open cluster with a similar age, the Hyades (age ~ 600Myr), we see a significant difference. Possible reasons are that dynamical evaporation has not influenced the Hyades and Praesepe in the same way, or that the clusters did not have the same initial mass function, or that dynamical interactions have modified the evolution of one or both clusters. Although a difference in the binary fractions of the clusters could cause the observed (i.e. system) mass functions to differ, measurements in the literature give no evidence for a significant difference in the binary fractions of the two clusters. Of our cluster candidates, six have masses predicted to be equal to or below the stellar/substellar boundary at 0.072Msol.
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