Author ORCID Identifier

Vincent Woolf

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-25-2012

Publication Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

422

Issue

2

First Page

1489

Last Page

1494

Abstract

We present evidence that there is an M dwarf problem similar to the previously identified G dwarf and K dwarf problems: the number of low-metallicity M dwarfs is not sufficient to match simple closed-box models of local Galactic chemical evolution. We estimated the metallicity of 4141 M dwarf stars with spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) using a molecular band strength versus metallicity calibration developed using high resolution spectra of nearby M dwarfs. Using a sample of M dwarfs with measured magnitudes, parallaxes and metallicities, we derived a relation that describes the absolute magnitude variation as a function of metallicity. When we examined the metallicity distribution of SDSS stars, after correcting for the different volumes sampled by the magnitude-limited survey, we found that there is an M dwarf problem, with the number of M dwarfs at [Fe/H] ∼−0.5 less than 1 per cent the number at [Fe/H] = 0, where a Simple model of Galactic chemical evolution predicts a more gradual drop in star numbers with decreasing metallicity.

Comments

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: © 2012 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20722.x

Download

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS