Rotational velocities of low-mass stars in the Pleiades

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (178) References (32) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Rotational velocities of low-mass stars in the Pleiades. Stauffer, J. R. ; Hartmann, L. ; Soderblom, D. R. ; Burnham, N. Abstract A spectroscopic rotational velocity survey was made of over 60 stars fainter than V = 11 mag in the Pleiades. Most of those stars have rotational velocities below the present detection limit of 10 km/s, but a significant number (18 stars) have v sin i's between 25 and 140 km/s. Based on photometry presented elsewhere, the rapidly rotating stars are identified as heavily spotted main-sequence stars. Thirteen of the 18 rapid rotators are concentrated to a relatively narrow range of color, V-I between 0.95 and 1.35. It is believed those stars stars have only recently arrived on the main sequence and that they owe their high rotational velocities to spin-up while on their radiative pre-main-sequence evolutionary tracks. The G stars in the cluster should also have spun up via that process. Since all of the stars observed with V-I between 0.5 and 0.95 have projected rotational velocities less than 20 km/s, the main sequence spin-down time must be short. The significant number of slow rotators (v sin i less than 10 km/s) in the same color range as the rapid rotators argues for a large range in initial angular momentum and/or an age spread of at least 30 million years among low-mass stars in the Pleiades. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: May 1984 DOI: 10.1086/161986 Bibcode: 1984ApJ...280..202S Keywords: Pleiades Cluster; Stellar Evolution; Stellar Mass; Stellar Rotation; Stellar Spectrophotometry; Angular Velocity; Binary Stars; Dwarf Stars; G Stars; Late Stars; Main Sequence Stars; Pre-Main Sequence Stars; Spectrum Analysis; Star Clusters; Variable Stars; Astronomy full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (57)