Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T06:35:32.738Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Model Atmospheres and the Teff Scale for M Dwarfs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

John M. Brett
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Bertrand Plez
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

Abstract

The Teff (effective temperature) scale for M dwarfs is very uncertain. One method which can be used to establish this scale is to compare observed spectra to synthetic ones derived from appropriate model atmospheres. With this method the adequacy of the model atmosphere is of great importance and simple models can give incorrect results. Alternatively if the Teff scale is known with some accuracy then this comparison is a good test of the adequacy of the models. We have computed some new and preliminary model atmospheres for late type dwarfs which accurately treat the line opacity with the opacity sampling technique and employ laboratory values for the transition strengths of molecular bands. With the above two considerations in mind we compare the fluxes of these models to observed fluxes of late K and early M dwarfs. This preliminary analysis indicates a discrepancy with the currently accepted Teff scale for early M dwarfs with the models suggesting values some 200 K hotter.

Type
Galactic and Stellar
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anders, E. and Grevesse, N., 1989, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 53, 197.Google Scholar
Bessell, M.S., 1991, Astron. J., 101, 662.Google Scholar
Breger, M., 1976, Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 32, 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doverstal, M. and Weijnitz, P., 1992, Molecular Physics, 75, 1357.Google Scholar
Gunn, M. and Stryker, L.L., 1983, Astrophy. J. Suppl. Ser., 52, 121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafsson, B., Bell, R.A., Eriksson, K. and Nordlund, A., 1975, Astron. Astrophys., 42,407.Google Scholar
Habets, G.M.H.J. and Heintze, J.R.W., 1981, Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser., 46,193.Google Scholar
Mould, J.E.R., 1978, Astrophys. J., 226, 923.Google Scholar
Plez, B., Brett, J.M., and Nordlund, A., 1992, Astron. Astrophys., 256, 551.Google Scholar
Veeder, G., 1974, Astron. J., 79, 1056.Google Scholar
Wing, R.F., 1967, PhD thesis, University of California.Google Scholar