Brought to you by:

First Results from the CHARA Array. IV. The Interferometric Radii of Low-Mass Stars

, , , , , , , , , , and

© 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
, , Citation D. H. Berger et al 2006 ApJ 644 475 DOI 10.1086/503318

0004-637X/644/1/475

Abstract

We have measured the angular diameters of six M dwarfs with the CHARA Array, a long-baseline optical interferometer located at Mount Wilson Observatory. Spectral types range from M1.0 V to M3.0 V and linear radii from 0.38 to 0.69 R. These results are consistent with the seven other M dwarf radii measurements from optical interferometry and with those for 14 stars in eclipsing binary systems. We compare all directly measured M dwarf radii to model predictions and find that current models underestimate the true stellar radii by up to 15%-20%. The differences are small among the metal-poor stars but become significantly larger with increasing metallicity. This suggests that theoretical models for low-mass stars may be missing some opacity source that alters the computed stellar radii.

Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS

Please wait… references are loading.
10.1086/503318