Measuring the Rotational Velocities of Young M Stars
Abstract
We have measured the projected rotational velocities of 140 young M stars identified using ROSAT data and previously discussed in Shkolnik et al. 2009, 2012. Each stellar spectrum was fit with a specific spectral-type-matched, slowly rotating template spectrum to measure the projected rotational velocity, v sin i, for each star. Our preliminary analysis measured that 83% of the sample are rapid rotators, with vsini > 5 km/s. Unlike Reiners et al. 2012, who looked at old M stars, we do not see a strong correlation of more rapid rotation with later spectral type for the M0 through M4 stars. However our sample is all consistently younger, which may explain the higher percentage of rapid rotators. Many thanks to the National Science Foundation for their support through grant AST-1109693.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22344113M