The χFactor: Determining the Strength of Activity in Low Mass Dwarfs

Preprint

18 October 2004

preprint
Published by arXiv in arXiv

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.astro-ph/0410422

Abstract

We describe a new, distance-independent method for calculating the magnetic activity strength in low mass dwarfs, L_{H\alpha}/L_{bol}. Using a well-observed sample of nearby stars and cool standards spanning spectral type M0.5 to L0, we compute ``\chi'', the ratio between the continuum flux near H-alpha and the bolometric flux, f_{\lambda6560}/f_{bol}. This ratio may be multiplied by the measured equivalent width of the H-alpha emission line to yield L_{H\alpha}/L_{bol}. We provide \chi values for all objects in our sample, as well as fits to \chi as a function of color and average values by spectral type. This method was used by West et al.(2004) to examine trends in magnetic activity strength in low mass stars.

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Version 1, 2004-10-18, ArXiv
Published version: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 116 (826), 1105.

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