Supergiant temperatures and linear radii from near-infrared interferometry

Abstract

We present angular diameters for 42 luminosity class I stars and 32 luminosity class II stars that have been interferometrically determined with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer. Derived values of radius and effective temperature are established for these objects, and an empirical calibration of these parameters for supergiants will be presented as a functions of spectral type and colors. For the effective temperature versus $(V-K)_0$ color, we find an empirical calibration with a median deviation of $\Delta T = 70$K in the range of $0.7 < (V-K)_0 < 5.1$ for LC I stars; for LC II, the median deviation is $\Delta T = 120$K from $0.4 < (V-K)_0 < 4.3$. Effective temperature as a function of spectral type is also calibrated from these data, but shows significantly more scatter than the $T_{\rm EFF}$ versus $(V-K)_0$ relationship. No deviation of $T_{\rm EFF}$ versus spectral type is seen for these high luminosity objects relative to luminosity class II giants. Directly determined diameters range up to $400 R_\odot$, though are limited by poor distance determinations, which dominate the error estimates. These temperature and radii measures reflect a direct calibration of these parameters for supergiants from empirical means.