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The Palomar/Keck Adaptive Optics Survey of Young Solar Analogs: Evidence for a Universal Companion Mass Function
We present results from an adaptive optics survey for substellar andstellar companions to Sun-like stars. The survey targeted 266 F5-K5stars in the 3 Myr-3 Gyr age range with distances of 10-190 pc.Results from the survey include the discovery of two brown dwarfcompanions (HD 49197B and HD 203030B), 24 new stellar binaries, and atriple system. We infer that the frequency of 0.012-0.072Msun brown dwarfs in 28-1590 AU orbits around young solaranalogs is 3.2+3.1 -2.7% (2σ limits).The result demonstrates that the deficiency of substellar companions atwide orbital separations from Sun-like stars is less pronounced than inthe radial velocity "brown dwarf desert." We infer that the massdistribution of companions in 28-1590 AU orbits around solar-mass starsfollows a continuous dN/dM 2 vprop M -0.42 relation over the 0.01-1.0 M sun secondary massrange. While this functional form is similar to that for isolatedobjects less than 0.1 M sun, over the entire 0.01-1.0 Msun range, the mass functions of companions and of isolatedobjects differ significantly. Based on this conclusion and on similarresults from other direct imaging and radial velocity companion surveysin the literature, we argue that the companion mass function follows thesame universal form over the entire range between 0 and 1590 AU inorbital semimajor axis and ≈ 0.01-20 M sun in companionmass. In this context, the relative dearth of substellar versus stellarsecondaries at all orbital separations arises naturally from theinferred form of the companion mass function.
| Metallicities and activities of southern stars
Aims. We present the results from high-resolution spectroscopicmeasurements to determine metallicities and activities of bright starsin the southern hemisphere. Methods: We measured the iron abundances([Fe/H]'s) and chromospheric emission indices (log h{R}'{HK})of 353 solar-type stars with V = 7.5-9.5. [Fe/H] abundances aredetermined using a custom χ2 fitting procedure within alarge grid of Kurucz model atmospheres. The chromospheric activitieswere determined by measuring the amount of emission in the cores of thestrong Caii HK lines. Results: Our comparison of the metallicity sampleto other [Fe/H] determinations was found to agree at the ±0.05dex level for spectroscopic values and at the ±0.1 dex level forphotometric values. The distribution of chromospheric activities isdescribed by a bimodal distribution, agreeing with the conclusions fromother works. Also an analysis of Maunder minimum status was attempted,and it was found that 6 ± 4 stars in the sample could be in aMaunder minimum phase of their evolution and hence the Sun should onlyspend a few per cent of its main sequence lifetime in Maunder minimum.Based on observations made with the ESO telescopes at the La SillaParanal observatory under programme ID's 076.C-0578(B) and077.C-0192(A). Table 4 is 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/485/571
| The Gemini Deep Planet Survey
We present the results of the Gemini Deep Planet Survey, a near-infraredadaptive optics search for giant planets and brown dwarfs around 85nearby young stars. The observations were obtained with the Altairadaptive optics system at the Gemini North telescope, and angulardifferential imaging was used to suppress the speckle noise of thecentral star. Typically, the observations are sensitive to angularseparations beyond 0.5" with 5 σ contrast sensitivities inmagnitude difference at 1.6 μm of 9.5 at 0.5", 12.9 at 1", 15.0 at2", and 16.5 at 5". These sensitivities are sufficient to detect planetsmore massive than 2 MJ with a projected separation in therange 40-200 AU around a typical target. Second-epoch observations of 48stars with candidates (out of 54) have confirmed that all candidates areunrelated background stars. A detailed statistical analysis of thesurvey results is presented. Assuming a planet mass distributiondn/dm~m-1.2 and a semimajor-axis distributiondn/da~a-1, the 95% credible upper limits on the fraction ofstars with at least one planet of mass 0.5-13 MJ are 0.28 forthe range 10-25 AU, 0.13 for 25-50 AU, and 0.093 for 50-250 AU; thisresult is weakly dependent on the semimajor-axis distribution power-lawindex. The 95% credible interval for the fraction of stars with at leastone brown dwarf companion having a semimajor axis in the range 25-250 AUis 0.019+0.083-0.015, irrespective of anyassumption on the mass and semimajor-axis distributions. Theobservations made as part of this survey have resolved the stars HD14802, HD 166181, and HD 213845 into binaries for the first time.Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which isoperated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Geminipartnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), theParticle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (United Kingdom), theNational Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the AustralianResearch Council (Australia), CNPq (Brazil), and CONICET (Argentina).
| Search for associations containing young stars (SACY). I. Sample and searching method
We report results from a high-resolution optical spectroscopic surveyaimed to search for nearby young associations and young stars amongoptical counterparts of ROSAT All-Sky Survey X-ray sources in theSouthern Hemisphere. We selected 1953 late-type (B-V~≥~0.6),potentially young, optical counterparts out of a total of 9574 1RXSsources for follow-up observations. At least one high-resolutionspectrum was obtained for each of 1511 targets. This paper is the firstin a series presenting the results of the SACY survey. Here we describeour sample and our observations. We describe a convergence method in the(UVW) velocity space to find associations. As an example, we discuss thevalidity of this method in the framework of the β Pic Association.
| Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 pc-The Southern Sample
We are obtaining spectra, spectral types, and basic physical parametersfor the nearly 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 in theHipparcos catalog within 40 pc of the Sun. Here we report on resultsfor 1676 stars in the southern hemisphere observed at Cerro TololoInter-American Observatory and Steward Observatory. These resultsinclude new, precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physicalparameters (including the effective temperature, surface gravity, andmetallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of ourprogram stars. We include notes on astrophysically interesting stars inthis sample, the metallicity distribution of the solar neighborhood, anda table of solar analogs. We also demonstrate that the bimodal nature ofthe distribution of the chromospheric activity parameterlogR'HK depends strongly on the metallicity, andwe explore the nature of the ``low-metallicity'' chromosphericallyactive K-type dwarfs.
| Nearby young stars
We present the results of an extensive all-sky survey of nearby stars ofspectral type F8 or later in a systematic search of young (zero-age mainsequence) objects. Our sample has been derived by cross-correlating theROSAT All-Sky Survey and the TYCHO catalogue, yielding a total of 754candidates distributed more or less randomly over the sky. Follow-upspectroscopy of these candidate objects has been performed on 748 ofthem. We have discovered a tight kinematic group of ten stars withextremely high lithium equivalent widths that are presumably youngerthan the Pleiades, but again distributed rather uniformly over the sky.Furthermore, about 43 per cent of our candidates have detectable levelsof lithium, thus indicating that these are relatively young objects withages not significantly above the Pleiades age.Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory,Chile (ESO No. 62.I-0650, 66.D-0159(A), 67.D-0236(A)).
| K dwarfs and the chemical evolution of the solar cylinder
K dwarfs have lifetimes older than the present age of the Galactic disc,and are thus ideal stars for investigating the chemical evolution of thedisc. We have developed several photometric metallicity indicators for Kdwarfs, based on a sample of accurate spectroscopic metallicities for 34disc and halo G and K dwarfs. The photometric metallicities lead us todevelop a metallicity index for K dwarfs based only on their position inthe colour-absolute-magnitude diagram. Metallicities have beendetermined for 431 single K dwarfs drawn from the Hipparcos catalogue,selecting the stars by absolute magnitude and removing multiple systems.The sample is essentially a complete reckoning of the metal content innearby K dwarfs. We use stellar isochrones to mark the stars by mass,and select a subset of 220 of the stars, which is complete within anarrow mass interval. We fit the data with a model of the chemicalevolution of the solar cylinder. We find that only a modest cosmicscatter is required to fit our age-metallicity relation. The modelassumes two main infall episodes for the formation of the halo-thickdisc and thin disc, respectively. The new data confirm that the solarneighbourhood formed on a long time-scale of the order of 7 Gyr.
| Additional TWA members?. Spectroscopic verification of kinematically selected TWA candidates
We present spectroscopic measurements of the 23 new candidate members ofthe TW Hydrae Association from \citet{MF}. Based on Hα and Li 6708Å strengths together with location on a color-magnitude diagramfor Hipparcos TWA candidates, we found only three possible new members(TYC 7760-0835-1, TYC 8238-1462-1, and TYC 8234-2856-1) in addition tothe already known member, TWA 19. This eliminated most of the candidatesmore distant than 100 pc. Three Tycho stars, almost certainly members ofthe Lower Centaurus Crux association, are the most distant members ofthe TWA. A claim of isotropic expansion of TWA has to be re-evaluatedbased on our new results. Generally, one cannot identify new members ofa diffuse nearby stellar group based solely on kinematic data. Toeliminate interlopers with similar kinematics, spectroscopicverification is essential.
| Internal kinematics of the TW Hya association of young stars
Thirty one probable kinematic members of the nearby TW Hya associationof young stars are selected from the RASSBSC/Tycho-2 sample of starsluminous in X-rays, detected by ROSAT. Eight of them have been listedalready as members of the association, and 23 are new candidates. Theassociation occupies a volume of some 106 pc3, thenearest member being at a distance of only 17.5 pc from the Sun. Thelower bound internal velocity dispersion is estimated at 0.8 kms-1, which is considerably larger than is expected in agravitationally bound open cluster. The total mass of the group isestimated at 31 solar masses. The centre of mass lies at 73 pc from usin the direction close to the position of the prototype star TW Hya. Arealistic kinematical model fitting both the observed trigonometricparallaxes and radial velocities involves a linear expansion of thegroup with the rate 0.12 km s-1 pc-1, whichdefines a dynamical age of 8.3 Myr, in good agreement with previous ageestimations for T Tauri members. Likewise the nearby Carina-Vela movinggroup of X-ray stars, the TW Hya association appears to be an outpost ofthe Gould Belt structure rather than an isolated open cluster.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Hydra |
| Right ascension: | 10h47m31.15s |
| Declination: | -22°20'52.9" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 8.357 |
| Distance: | 34.868 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -123.5 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -27.3 |
| B-T magnitude: | 9.403 |
| V-T magnitude: | 8.444 |
Catalogs and designations:
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