scholarly journals Theoretical Limits on the Properties of Low-Velocity M-Dwarfs

1975 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 321-324
Author(s):  
P. Biermann

Using a version of the Toomre-criterion (Toomre, 1964) for a mixture of stellar populations, limits are derived for the kinematical properties of the newly discovered population of low-velocity M-dwarfs (Weistrop, 1972; Murray and Sanduleak, 1972); these stars are claimed to be a large mass-fraction (≳ 0.5) of all stars in the solar neighbourhood and to have only 10 km s−1 velocity dispersion. They could make up for the locally missing mass (Oort, 1965; Schmidt, 1974). It is found that a configuration of stellar populations with the M-dwarfs included (having such properties) is not stable in the sense of the Toomre-criterion. The limiting stability properties are given.

1977 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-25
Author(s):  
P. S. Thé

This is a short report on our study of the M dwarfs in the South Galactic Pole region in connection with the problem of the missing mass and the luminosity function of intrinsically faint stars. The M-type stars found in our objective prism survey with the Lembang Schmidt telescope have been studied in collaboration with Dr. D.H.P. Jones for the discrimination between dwarfs and giants. Furthermore, these stars are all observed photo-electrically in Kron’s R, I-system at La Silla, Chile. Results of the work will be published soon. A blink survey has been initiated at Nymegen using copies of red and blue Mt. Palomar Sky survey plates to find faint red stars in the S.G.P.-region.Kumar has put forward the idea that Oort’s missing mass is to be found as a large number of very low mass stars (0.01-0.07 Mθ) in the solar neighbourhood. His idea is backed up by the fact that stars within this mass range have been found by double star observers. Staller suggested that the low velocity M dwarfs found in the directions of the galactic poles represent Kumar’s very low mass stars. This proposal is ment not only for giving an answer to the problem of the missing mass but also for those problem connected with the observed small velocity dispersion (10-15 km/sec) of the low velocity M dwarfs. Staller estimated the contracting and cooling times of these stars to be about 5 x 108 to 109 years. In the lifetime of our galaxy (about 10 years) 10 to 20 generations of these low mass stars have been created and evolve to very faint degenerated black dwarfs. The mass density of these stars, in the solar neighbourhood, will be large enough to solve the problem of the missing mass. The stars we observe at present as low velocity M stars are genuinely young red stars, and their small velocity dispersion will therefore not contradict Spitzer and Schwarzschild’s mechanism for the creation of “velocity dispersion by encounters with interstellar clouds. The age of the older very faint black dwarfs is comparable to that of our galaxy. These stars should therefore have a large velocity dispersion. Staller has shown that on the average the low mass stars have a velocity dispersion larger than 21 km/sec, and therefore the whole group of low mass stars is satisfying Toomre’s stability criterion for the galactic disk, such as newly derived by Biermann.


2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (2) ◽  
pp. 2952-2964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R Hayden ◽  
Joss Bland-Hawthorn ◽  
Sanjib Sharma ◽  
Ken Freeman ◽  
Janez Kos ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present the chemodynamic structure of the solar neighbourhood using 55 652 stars within a 500 pc volume around the Sun observed by GALAH and with astrometric parameters from Gaia DR2. We measure the velocity dispersion for all three components (vertical, radial, and tangential) and find that it varies smoothly with [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] for each component. The vertical component is especially clean, with $\sigma _{v_z}$ increasing from a low of 10 km s−1 at solar [α/Fe] and [Fe/H] to a high of more than 50 km s−1 for more metal-poor and [α/Fe] enhanced populations. We find no evidence of a large decrease in the velocity dispersion of the highest [α/Fe] populations as claimed in surveys prior to Gaia DR2. The eccentricity distribution for local stars varies most strongly as a function of [α/Fe], where stars with [α/Fe] < 0.1 dex having generally circular orbits (e < 0.15), while the median eccentricity increases rapidly for more [α/Fe] enhanced stellar populations up to e ∼ 0.35. These [α/Fe] enhanced populations have guiding radii consistent with origins in the inner Galaxy. Of the stars with metallicities much higher than the local interstellar medium ([Fe/H] > 0.1 dex), we find that the majority have e < 0.2 and are likely observed in the solar neighbourhood through churning/migration rather than blurring effects, as the epicyclic motion for these stars is not large enough to reach the radii at which they were likely born based on their metallicity.


1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 265-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Blaauw ◽  
I. Fejes ◽  
C. R. Tolbert ◽  
A. N. M. Hulsbosch ◽  
E. Raimond

Earlier investigations have shown that there is a preponderance of negative velocities in the hydrogen gas at high latitudes, and that in certain areas very little low-velocity gas occurs. In the region 100° <l< 250°, + 40° <b< + 85°, there appears to be a disturbance, with velocities between - 30 and - 80 km/sec. This ‘streaming’ involves about 3000 (r/100)2solar masses (rin pc). In the same region there is a low surface density at low velocities (|V| < 30 km/sec). About 40% of the gas in the disturbance is in the form of separate concentrations superimposed on a relatively smooth background. The number of these concentrations as a function of velocity remains constant from - 30 to - 60 km/sec but drops rapidly at higher negative velocities. The velocity dispersion in the concentrations varies little about 6·2 km/sec. Concentrations at positive velocities are much less abundant.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (4) ◽  
pp. 5623-5640
Author(s):  
Alice C Quillen ◽  
Alex R Pettitt ◽  
Sukanya Chakrabarti ◽  
Yifan Zhang ◽  
Jonathan Gagné ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT With backwards orbit integration, we estimate birth locations of young stellar associations and moving groups identified in the solar neighbourhood that are younger than 70 Myr. The birth locations of most of these stellar associations are at a smaller galactocentric radius than the Sun, implying that their stars moved radially outwards after birth. Exceptions to this rule are the Argus and Octans associations, which formed outside the Sun’s galactocentric radius. Variations in birth heights of the stellar associations suggest that they were born in a filamentary and corrugated disc of molecular clouds, similar to that inferred from the current filamentary molecular cloud distribution and dust extinction maps. Multiple spiral arm features with different but near corotation pattern speeds and at different heights could account for the stellar association birth sites. We find that the young stellar associations are located in between peaks in the radial/tangential (UV) stellar velocity distribution for stars in the solar neighbourhood. This would be expected if they were born in a spiral arm, which perturbs stellar orbits that cross it. In contrast, stellar associations seem to be located near peaks in the vertical phase-space distribution, suggesting that the gas in which stellar associations are born moves vertically together with the low-velocity dispersion disc stars.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 524-527
Author(s):  
Maria A. Tiongco ◽  
Enrico Vesperini ◽  
Anna Lisa Varri

AbstractWe present several results of the study of the evolution of globular clusters’ internal kinematics, as driven by two-body relaxation and the interplay between internal angular momentum and the external Galactic tidal field. Via a large suite of N-body simulations, we explored the three-dimensional velocity space of tidally perturbed clusters, by characterizing their degree of velocity dispersion anisotropy and their rotational properties. These studies have shown that a cluster’s kinematical properties contain distinct imprints of the cluster’s initial structural properties, dynamical history, and tidal environment. Building on this fundamental understanding, we then studied the dynamics of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters, with attention to the largely unexplored role of angular momentum.


2017 ◽  
Vol 608 ◽  
pp. L1 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Hayden ◽  
A. Recio-Blanco ◽  
P. de Laverny ◽  
S. Mikolaitis ◽  
C. C. Worley

We analyze 494 main sequence turnoff and subgiant stars from the AMBRE:HARPS survey. These stars have accurate astrometric information from Gaia DR1, providing reliable age estimates with relative uncertainties of ±1 or 2 Gyr and allowing precise orbital determinations. The sample is split based on chemistry into a low-[Mg/Fe] sequence, which are often identified as thin disk stellar populations, and high-[Mg/Fe] sequence, which are often associated with thick disk stellar populations. We find that the high-[Mg/Fe] chemical sequence has extended star formation for several Gyr and is coeval with the oldest stars of the low-[Mg/Fe] chemical sequence: both the low- and high-[Mg/Fe] sequences were forming stars at the same time. We find that the high-[Mg/Fe] stellar populations are only vertically extended for the oldest, most-metal poor and highest [Mg/Fe] stars. When comparing vertical velocity dispersion for the low- and high-[Mg/Fe] sequences, the high-[Mg/Fe] sequence has lower vertical velocity dispersion than the low-[Mg/Fe] sequence for stars of similar age. This means that identifying either group as thin or thick disk based on chemistry is misleading. The stars belonging to the high-[Mg/Fe] sequence have perigalacticons that originate in the inner disk, while the perigalacticons of stars on the low-[Mg/Fe] sequence are generally around the solar neighborhood. From the orbital properties of the stars, the high-[Mg/Fe] and low-[Mg/Fe] sequences are most likely a reflection of the chemical enrichment history of the inner and outer disk populations, respectively; radial mixing causes both populations to be observed in situ at the solar position. Based on these results, we emphasize that it is important to be clear in defining what populations are being referenced when using the terms thin and thick disk, and that ideally the term thick disk should be reserved for purely geometric definitions to avoid confusion and be consistent with definitions in external galaxies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S334) ◽  
pp. 304-305
Author(s):  
Jorrit H. J. Hagen ◽  
Amina Helmi

AbstractWe investigate the kinematics of red clump stars in the Solar neighbourhood by combining data from the RAVE survey with the TGAS dataset presented in Gaia DR1. Our goal is to put new constraints on the (local) distribution of mass using the Jeans Equations. Here we show the variation of the vertical velocity dispersion as function of height above the mid-plane for both a thin and a thick disk tracer sample and present preliminary results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (2) ◽  
pp. 2505-2510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moiya A S McTier ◽  
David M Kipping

Abstract We demonstrate that planet occurrence does not depend on stellar galactocentric velocity in the Solar neighbourhood. Using Gaia DR2 astrometry and radial velocity data, we calculate 3D galactocentric velocities for 197 090 Kepler field stars, 1647 of which are confirmed planet hosts. When we compare the galactocentric velocities of planet hosts to those of the entire field star sample, we observe a statistically significant (KS p-value  = 10−70) distinction, with planet hosts being apparently slower than field stars by ∼40 km s−1. We explore some potential explanations for this difference and conclude that it is not a consequence of the planet–metallicity relation or distinctions in the samples’ thin/thick disc membership, but rather an artefact of Kepler’s selection function. Non Kepler-host stars that have nearly identical distances, temperatures, surface gravities, and Kepler magnitudes to the confirmed planet hosts also have nearly identical velocity distributions. Using one of these identical non-host samples, we consider that the probability of a star with velocity vtot hosting a planet can be described by an exponential function proportional to $e^{(-v_{\mathrm{tot}}/v_0)}$. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampler, we determine that v0 >976 km s−1 to 99 per cent confidence, which implies that planets in the Solar neighbourhood are just as likely to form around high-velocity stars as they are around low-velocity stars. Our work highlights the subtle ways in which selection biases can create strong correlations without physical underpinnings.


Results from a deep photometric survey for low-luminosity stars show a turnup to the luminosity function at faint magnitudes, and reopen the possibility that the missing mass in the solar neighbourhood is made up of stars after all.


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