Dynamical masses across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
Abstract
We infer the dynamical masses of stars across the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram using wide binaries from the Gaia survey. Gaia's high-precision astrometry measures the wide binaries' orbital motion, which contains the mass information. Using wide binaries as the training sample, we measure the mass of stars across the 2D H-R diagram using the combination of statistical inference and neural networks. Our results provide the dynamical mass measurements for main-sequence stars from 0.1 to 2 M⊙, unresolved binaries, and unresolved triples on the main sequence, and the mean masses of giants and white dwarfs. Two regions in the H-R diagram show interesting behaviours in mass, where one of them is pre-main-sequence stars, and the other one may be related to close compact object companions like M dwarf-white dwarf binaries. These mass measurements depend solely on Newtonian dynamics with minimal assumptions on eccentricities, providing independent constraints on stellar evolutionary models, and the occurrence rate of compact objects.
- Publication:
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- March 2024
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2308.08584
- Bibcode:
- 2024MNRAS.528.4272H
- Keywords:
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- binaries: general;
- stars: fundamental parameters;
- Hertzsprung-Russell and colour-magnitude diagrams;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- Fig. 5 and Fig. 12 are the key results. Submitted to MNRAS. Comments are welcome!