Abstract
CARMENES is a spectrograph for radial velocity surveys of M dwarfs with the aim of detecting Earth-mass planets orbiting in the habitable zones of their host stars. To ensure an optimal use of the CARMENES guaranteed time observations, in this paper we investigate the correlation of activity and rotation for approximately 2200 M dwarfs, ranging in spectral type from M0.0 V to M9.0 V. We present new high-resolution spectroscopic observations with FEROS, CAFE, and HRS of approximately 500 M dwarfs. For each new observation, we determined its radial velocity and measured its Hα activity index and its rotation velocity. Additionally, we have multiple observations of many stars to investigate if there are any radial velocity variations due to multiplicity. The results of our survey confirm that early-M dwarfs are Hα inactive with low rotational velocities and that late-M dwarfs are Hα active with very high rotational velocities. The results of this high-resolution analysis comprise the most extensive catalogue of rotation and activity in M dwarfs currently available.
Highlights
CARMENES is a spectrograph for radial velocity surveys of M dwarfs with the aim of detecting Earth-mass planets orbiting in the habitable zones of their host stars
To ensure an optimal use of the CARMENES guaranteed time observations, in this paper we investigate the correlation of activity and rotation for approximately 2200 M dwarfs, ranging in spectral type from M0.0 V to M9.0 V
Current exoplanet research is driven by the detection of small planets with an emphasis on rocky planets orbiting in the habitable zones (HZ) of their host stars
Summary
Current exoplanet research is driven by the detection of small planets with an emphasis on rocky planets orbiting in the habitable zones (HZ) of their host stars. To maximise the scientific return of the CARMENES guaranteed time observations (GTO) survey, it is necessary to select the most promising targets with low levels of magnetic activity and low rotational velocities that are not spectroscopic binaries This is because firstly, the broader the spectral lines of a star are, the more difficult it is to accurately measure its RV, and secondly because rotation plays a key role in the generation of magnetic activity, which can lead to a false planetary detection. In this paper we present the stellar rotation and activity of the targets in the Carmencita (CARMENES Cool dwarf Information and daTa Archive) catalogue This comprises data compiled from the literature as well as new measurements derived from the high-resolution spectroscopic observing campaign. This is the third paper in a series that aims to describe the selection and characterisation of the CARMENES sample; the first paper described the low-resolution spectroscopic observations (Alonso-Floriano et al 2015) and the second paper investigated close multiplicity of the targets in the Carmencita catalogue (Cortés-Contreras et al 2017)
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