Upper Centaurus Lupus Research Articles

New members of the Lupus I cloud based on Gaia astrometry

We characterize twelve young stellar objects (YSOs) located in the Lupus I region, spatially overlapping with the Upper Centaurus Lupus (UCL) sub-stellar association. The aim of this study is to understand whether the Lupus I cloud has more members than what has been claimed so far in the literature and gain a deeper insight into the global properties of the region. We selected our targets using the Gaia DR2 catalog based on their consistent kinematic properties with the Lupus I bona fide members. In our sample of twelve YSOs observed by X-shooter, we identified ten Lupus I members. We could not determine the membership status of two of our targets, namely Gaia DR2 6014269268967059840 and 2MASS J15361110-3444473 due to technical issues. We found out that four of our targets are accretors, among them, 2MASS J15551027-3455045, with a mass of ∼0.03 M⊙, is one of the least massive accretors in the Lupus complex identified to date. Several of our targets (including accretors) are formed in situ and off-cloud with respect to the main filaments of Lupus I; hence, our study may hint that there are diffused populations of M dwarfs around Lupus I main filaments. In this context, we would like to emphasize that our kinematic analysis with Gaia catalogs played a key role in identifying the new members of the Lupus I cloud.

Chronostar – II. Kinematic age and substructure of the Scorpius–Centaurus OB2 association

ABSTRACT The nearest region of massive star formation – the Scorpius–Centaurus OB2 association (Sco–Cen) – is a local laboratory ideally suited to the study of a wide range of astrophysical phenomena. Precision astrometry from the Gaia mission has expanded the census of this region by an order of magnitude. However, Sco–Cen’s vastness and complex substructure make kinematic analysis of its traditional three regions, Upper Scorpius, Upper Centaurus-Lupus, and Lower Centaurus-Crux, challenging. Here, we use chronostar, a Bayesian tool for kinematic age determination, to carry out a new kinematic decomposition of Sco–Cen using full six-dimensional kinematic data. Our model identifies eight kinematically distinct components consisting of 8185 stars distributed in dense and diffuse groups, each with an independently fit kinematic age; we verify that these kinematic estimates are consistent with isochronal ages for K dwarfs. Both Upper Centaurus-Lupus and Lower Centaurus-Crux are split into two parts. The kinematic age of the component that includes PDS 70, one of the most well-studied systems currently forming planets, is 15 ± 3 Myr.

Rotation of Low-mass Stars in Upper Centaurus–Lupus and Lower Centaurus–Crux with TESS

We present stellar rotation rates derived from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) light curves for stars in Upper Centaurus–Lupus (UCL; ∼136 pc, ∼16 Myr) and Lower Centaurus–Crux (LCC; ∼115 pc, ∼17 Myr). We find spot-modulated periods (P) for ∼90% of members. The range of light-curve and periodogram shapes echoes that found for other clusters with K2, but fewer multiperiod stars may be an indication of the different noise characteristics of TESS, or a result of the source selection methods here. The distribution of P as a function of color as a proxy for mass fits nicely in between that for both older and younger clusters observed by K2, with fast rotators being found among both the highest and lowest masses probed here, and a well-organized distribution of M-star rotation rates. About 13% of the stars have an infrared excess, suggesting a circumstellar disk; this is well matched to expectations, given the age of the stars. There is an obvious pileup of disked M stars at P ∼ 2 days, and the pileup may move to shorter P as the mass decreases. There is also a strong concentration of disk-free M stars at P ∼ 2 days, hinting that perhaps these stars have recently freed themselves from their disks. Exploring the rotation rates of stars in UCL/LCC has the potential to help us understand the beginning of the end of the influence of disks on rotation, and the timescale on which stars respond to unlocking.

Pterodactyls: A Tool to Uniformly Search and Vet for Young Transiting Planets in TESS Primary Mission Photometry

Kepler’s short-period exoplanet population has revealed evolutionary features such as the Radius Valley and the Hot Neptune desert that are likely sculpted by atmospheric loss over time. These findings suggest that the primordial planet population is different from the Gyr-old Kepler population, and motivates exoplanet searches around young stars. Here, we present pterodactyls, a data reduction pipeline specifically built to address the challenges in discovering exoplanets around young stars and to work with TESS Primary Mission 30-minute cadence photometry, since most young stars were not preselected TESS two-minute cadence targets. pterodactyls builds on publicly available and tested tools in order to extract, detrend, search, and vet transiting young planet candidates. We search five clusters with known transiting planets: the Tucana–Horologium Association, IC 2602, Upper Centaurus Lupus, Ursa Major, and Pisces–Eridani. We show that pterodactyls recovers seven out of the eight confirmed planets and one out of the two planet candidates, most of which were initially detected in two-minute cadence data. For these clusters, we conduct injection-recovery tests to characterize our detection efficiency, and compute an intrinsic planet occurrence rate of 49% ± 20% for sub-Neptunes and Neptunes (1.8–6 R ⊕) within 12.5 days, which is higher than Kepler’s Gyr-old occurrence rates of 6.8% ± 0.3%. This potentially implies that these planets have shrunk with time due to atmospheric mass loss. However, a proper assessment of the occurrence of transiting young planets will require a larger sample unbiased to planets already detected. As such, pterodactyls will be used in future work to search and vet for planet candidates in nearby clusters and moving groups.

A Census of the Low Accretors. I. The Catalog

Abstract Observations have shown that the disk frequency and the fraction of accreting pre-main-sequence stars decrease with the age of the population and that some stars appear to have disks while their accretion has stopped. Still, it is unclear how disk-bearing stars stop their accretion. To provide insight into the last stages of accretion in low-mass young stars, we conducted a survey of disk-bearing stars that are thought to be non-accretors to identify stars still accreting at very low rates. Here we present the first catalog of the survey of 170 disk-bearing non-accreting stars in Chamaeleon I, Orion OB1, Upper Scorpius, γ Velorum, and Upper Centaurus–Lupus, using He i λ10830 as a sensitive probe of accretion. We classify the line profiles into six types and argue that those showing redshifted and/or blueshifted absorption are still accreting. Using these classifications, we found that, among disk-bearing stars previously classified as non-accretors, at least 20%–30% are still accreting, with a larger fraction of those at younger population ages. While the difference between the outer disk signature and accretion status is unclear, we found a difference between the inner disk excess and accretion status. There is no preference in the mass of the newly identified accretors, suggesting that the processes inhibiting accretion do not directly depend on mass in the typical mass range of T Tauri stars. Lastly, we found that at a low accretion level, the “Hα width at the 10% height” criterion mischaracterizes a larger fraction of accretors than the line’s equivalent width.

A precise asteroseismic age and metallicity for HD 139614: a pre-main-sequence star with a protoplanetary disc in Upper Centaurus–Lupus

ABSTRACT HD 139614 is known to be a ∼14-Myr-old, possibly pre-main-sequence star in the Sco-Cen OB association in the Upper Centaurus-Lupus subgroup, with a slightly warped circumstellar disc containing ring structures hinting at one or more planets. The star’s chemical abundance pattern is metal-deficient except for volatile elements, which places it in the λ Boo class and suggests it has recently accreted gas-rich but dust-poor material. We identify seven dipole and four radial pulsation modes among its δ Sct pulsations using the TESS light curve and an échelle diagram. Precision modelling with the mesa stellar evolution and gyre stellar oscillation programs confirms it is on the pre-main sequence. Asteroseismic, grid-based modelling suggests an age of 10.75 ± 0.77 Myr, a mass of 1.52 ± 0.02 M ⊙, and a global metal abundance of Z = 0.0100 ± 0.0010. This represents the first asteroseismic determination of the bulk metallicity of a λ Boo star. The precise age and metallicity offer a benchmark for age estimates in Upper Centaurus–Lupus, and for understanding disc retention and planet formation around intermediate-mass stars.

Even More Rapidly Rotating Pre-main-sequence M Dwarfs with Highly Structured Light Curves: An Initial Survey in the Lower Centaurus-Crux and Upper Centaurus-Lupus Associations

Abstract Using K2, we recently discovered a new type of periodic photometric variability while analyzing the light curves of members of Upper Sco. The 23 exemplars of this new variability type are all mid-M dwarfs, with short rotation periods. Their phased light curves have one or more broad flux dips or multiple arcuate structures which are not explicable by photospheric spots or eclipses by solid bodies. Now, using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite data, we have searched for this type of variability in the other major sections of Sco-Cen, Upper Centaurus-Lupus (UCL), and Lower Centaurus-Crux (LCC). We identify 28 stars with the same light curve morphologies. We find no obvious difference between the Upper Sco and the UCL/LCC representatives of this class in terms of their light curve morphologies, periods, or variability amplitudes. The physical mechanism behind this variability is unknown, but as a possible clue we show that the rapidly rotating mid-M dwarfs in UCL/LCC have slightly different colors from the slowly rotating M dwarfs—they either have a blue excess (hot spots?) or a red excess (warm dust?). One of the newly identified stars (TIC242407571) has a very striking light curve morphology. At about every 0.05 in phase are features that resemble icicles. The icicles arise because there is a second periodic system whose main feature is a broad flux dip. Using a toy model, we show that the observed light curve morphology results only if the ratio of the two periods and the flux-dip width are carefully arranged.

A wide survey for circumstellar disks in the Lupus complex

Previous star formation studies have, out of necessity, often defined a population of young stars confined to the proximity of a molecular cloud. Gaia allows us to examine a wider, three-dimensional structure of nearby star forming regions, leading to a new understanding of their history. We present a wide-area survey covering 494 deg2 of the Lupus complex, a prototypical low-mass star forming region. Our survey includes all known molecular clouds in this region as well as parts of the Upper Scorpius and Upper Centaurus Lupus (UCL) groups of the Sco-Cen complex. We combine Gaia DR2 proper motions and parallaxes as well as ALLWISE mid-infrared photometry to select young stellar objects (YSOs) with disks. The YSO ages are inferred from Gaia color-magnitude diagrams, and their evolutionary stages from the slope of the spectral energy distributions. We find 98 new disk-bearing sources. Our new sample includes objects with ages ranging from 1 to 15 Myr and masses ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 M⊙, and consists of 56 sources with thick disks and 42 sources with anemic disks. While the youngest members are concentrated in the clouds and at distances of 160 pc, there is a distributed population of slightly older stars that overlap in proper motion, spatial distribution, distance, and age with the Lupus and UCL groups. The spatial and kinematic properties of the new disk-bearing YSOs indicate that Lupus and UCL are not distinct groups. Our new sample comprises some of the nearest disks to Earth at these ages, and thus provides an important target for follow-up studies of disks and accretion in very low mass stars, for example with ALMA and ESO-VLT X-shooter.

Searching for debris discs in the 30 Myr open cluster IC 4665

Context. Debris discs orbiting young stars are key to understanding dust evolution and the planetary formation process. We take advantage of a recent membership analysis of the 30 Myr nearby open cluster IC 4665 based on the Gaia and DANCe surveys to revisit the disc population of this cluster. Aims. We aim to study the disc population of IC 4665 using Spitzer (MIPS and IRAC) and WISE photometry. Methods. We use several colour–colour diagrams with empirical photospheric sequences to detect the sources with an infrared excess. Independently, we also fit the spectral energy distribution (SED) of our debris-disc candidates with the Virtual Observatory SED analyser (VOSA) which is capable of automatically detecting infrared excesses and provides effective temperature estimates. Results. We find six candidate debris-disc host stars (five with MIPS and one with WISE), two of which are new candidates. We estimate a disc fraction of 24 ± 10% for the B–A stars, where our sample is expected to be complete. This is similar to what has been reported in other clusters of similar ages (Upper Centaurus Lupus, Lower Centaurus Crux, the β Pictoris moving group, and the Pleiades). For solar-type stars we find a disc fraction of 9 ± 9%, which is lower than that observed in regions with comparable ages. Conclusions. Our candidate debris-disc host stars are excellent targets to be studied with ALMA or the future James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Erratum: Multiplicity of disc-bearing stars in Upper Scorpius and Upper Centaurus-Lupus

Erratum: Multiplicity of disc-bearing stars in Upper Scorpius and Upper Centaurus-Lupus

The Elusive Majority of Young Moving Groups. I. Young Binaries and Lithium-rich Stars in the Solar Neighborhood

Abstract Young stars in the solar neighborhood serve as nearby probes of stellar evolution and represent promising targets to directly image self-luminous giant planets. We have carried out an all-sky search for late-type (≈K7–M5) stars within 100 pc selected primarily on the basis of activity indicators from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer and ROSAT. Approximately 2000 active and potentially young stars are identified, of which we have followed up over 600 with low-resolution optical spectroscopy and over 1000 with diffraction-limited imaging using Robo-AO at the Palomar 1.5 m telescope. Strong lithium is present in 58 stars, implying ages spanning ≈10–200 Myr. Most of these lithium-rich stars are new or previously known members of young moving groups including TWA, β Pic, Tuc-Hor, Carina, Columba, Argus, AB Dor, Upper Centaurus Lupus, and Lower Centaurus Crux; the rest appear to be young low-mass stars without connections to established kinematic groups. Over 200 close binaries are identified down to 0.″2—the vast majority of which are new—and will be valuable for dynamical mass measurements of young stars with continued orbit monitoring in the future.

Stellar population of Sco OB2 revealed by Gaia DR2 data

Context. The Sco OB2 association is the nearest OB association, extending over approximately 2000 square degrees on the sky. Only its brightest and most massive members are already known (from HIPPARCOS) across its entire size, while studies of its lower mass population refer only to small portions of its extent. Aims. In this work we exploit the capabilities of Gaia DR2 measurements to search for Sco OB2 members across its entire size and down to the lowest stellar masses. Methods. We used both Gaia astrometric (proper motions and parallaxes) and photometric measurements (integrated photometry and colors) to select association members, using minimal assumptions derived mostly from the HIPPARCOS studies. Gaia resolves small details in both the kinematics of individual Sco OB2 subgroups and their distribution with distance from the Sun. We developed methods to explore the 3D kinematics of a stellar population covering large sky areas. Results. We find nearly 11 000 pre-main-sequence (PMS) members of Sco OB2 (with less than 3% field-star contamination), plus ∼3600 main-sequence (MS) candidate members with a larger (10–30%) field-star contamination. A higher confidence subsample of ∼9200 PMS (and ∼1340 MS) members is also selected (<1% contamination for the PMS), however this group is affected by larger (∼15%) incompleteness. We separately classify stars in compact and diffuse populations. Most members belong to one of several kinematically distinct diffuse populations, whose ensemble clearly outlines the shape of the entire association. Upper Sco is the densest region of Sco OB2. It is characterized by a complex spatial and kinematical structure and has no global pattern of motion. Other dense subclusters are found in Lower Centaurus-Crux and in Upper Centaurus-Lupus; the richest example of the latter, which has been recently identified, is coincident with the group near V1062 Sco. Most of the clustered stars appear to be younger than the diffuse PMS population, suggesting star formation in small groups that rapidly disperse and are diluted, reaching space densities lower than field stars while keeping memory of their original kinematics. We also find that the open cluster IC 2602 has a similar dynamics to Sco OB2, and its PMS members are currently evaporating and forming a diffuse (size ∼10°) halo around its double-peaked core.

DECam survey for low-mass stars and substellar objects in the UCL and LCC subgroups of the Sco-Cen OB Association (SCOCENSUS)

Using images taken with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), the first extensive survey of low mass and substellar objects is made in the 15-20 Myr Upper Centaurus Lupus (UCL) and Lower Centaurus Crux (LCC) subgroups of the Scorpius Centaurus OB Association (Sco-Cen). Due to the size of our dataset (>2Tb) we developed an extensive open source set of python libraries to reduce our images, including astrometry, coaddition, and PSF photometry. Our survey consists of 29$\times$3 deg$^2$ fields in the UCL and LCC subgroups of Sco-Cen and the creation of a catalog with over 11 million point sources. We create a prioritized list of candidate for members in UCL and LCC, with 118 \emph{best} and another 348 \emph{good} candidates. We show that the luminosity and mass functions of our low mass and substellar candidates are consistent with measurements for the younger Upper Scorpius subgroup and estimates of a universal IMF, with spectral types ranging from M1 down to L1.

Multiplicity of disc-bearing stars in Upper Scorpius and Upper Centaurus-Lupus

ABSTRACT We present observations of disc-bearing stars in Upper Scorpius (US) and Upper Centaurus-Lupus (UCL) with moderate resolution spectroscopy in order to determine the influence of multiplicity on disc persistence after ${\sim }5\hbox{--}20\, \mathrm{Myr}$. Discs were identified using infrared (IR) excess from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) survey. Our survey consists of 55 US members and 28 UCL members, using spatial and kinematic information to assign a probability of membership. Spectra are gathered from the ANU 2.3 m telescope using the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) to detect radial velocity variations that indicate the presence of a companion. We identify two double-lined spectroscopic binaries, both of which have strong IR excess. We find the binary fraction of disc-bearing stars in US and UCL for periods up to 20 yr to be $0.06^{+0.07}_{-0.02}$ and $0.13^{+0.06}_{-0.03}$, respectively. Based on the multiplicity of field stars, we obtain an expected binary fraction of ${\sim }0.12^{+0.02}_{-0.01}$. The determined binary fractions for disc-bearing stars do not vary significantly from the field, suggesting that overall lifetime of discs may not differ between single and binary star systems.

A new compact young moving group around V1062 Scorpii

Aims.We are searching for new open clusters or moving groups in the solar neighbourhood.Methods.We used theGaia-TGAS catalogue, cut it into narrow proper motion and parallax slices and searched for significant spatial over-densities of stars in each slice. We then examined stars forming over-densities in optical and near-infrared colour-magnitude diagrams to determine if they are compatible with isochrones of a cluster.Results.We detected a hitherto unknown moving group or cluster in the Upper Centaurus Lupus (UCL) section of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association (Sco-Cen) at a distance of 175 pc from the Sun. It is a group of 63 comoving stars of less than 10 to about 25 Myr in age. For the brightest stars that are present in theGaia-TGAS catalogue, the mean difference between kinematic and trigonometric distance moduli is − 0.01 mag with a standard deviation of 0.11 mag. Fainter cluster candidates are found in the HSOY catalogue, where no trigonometric parallaxes are available. For a subset of our candidate stars, we obtained radial velocity measurements at the MPG/ESO 2.2 m telescope in La Silla. Altogether we found 12 members with confirmed radial velocities and parallaxes, 31 with parallaxes or radial velocities, and 20 candidates from the convergent point method. The isochrone masses of our 63 members range from 2.6 to 0.7M⊙.

Angular Momentum Evolution of Young Stars in the nearby Scorpius–Centaurus OB Association

Abstract We report the results of a study of archival SuperWASP light curves for stars in Scorpius–Centaurus (Sco–Cen), the nearest OB association. We use SuperWASP time-series photometry to extract rotation periods for 189 candidate members of the Sco–Cen complex and verify that 162 of those are members of the classic Sco–Cen subgroups of Upper Scorpius (US), Upper Centaurus-Lupus (UCL), and Lower Centaurus-Crux (LCC). This study provides the first measurements of rotation periods explicitly for large samples of pre-main-sequence (pre-MS) stars spanning the UCL and LCC subgroups. Our final sample of 157 well-characterized pre-MS stars spans ages of ∼10–20 Myr, spectral types of ∼F3–M0, and masses of M ≃ 0.3–1.5  ⊙ N . For this sample, we find a distribution of stellar rotation periods with a median of P rot ≃ 2.4 days, an overall range of 0.2 < P rot < 8 days, and a fairly well-defined mass-dependent upper envelope of rotation periods. This distribution of periods is consistent with recently developed stellar angular momentum evolution models. These data are significant because they represent an undersampled age range and the number of measurable rotation periods is large compared to recent studies of other regions. We also search for new examples of eclipsing disk or ring systems analogous to 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 (J1407), but find none. Our survey yielded five eclipsing binaries, but only one appears to be physically associated with the Sco–Cen complex. V2394 Oph is a heavily reddened (A V ≃ 5 mag) massive contact binary in the LDN 1689 cloud whose Gaia astrometry is clearly consistent with kinematic membership with the Ophiuchus star-forming region.

Squeezed between shells? The origin of the Lupus I molecular cloud

The Lupus I cloud is found between the Upper-Scorpius (USco) and the Upper-Centaurus-Lupus (UCL) sub-groups of the Sco-Cen OB-association, where the expanding USco H I shell appears to interact with a bubble currently driven by the winds of the remaining B-stars of UCL.We want to study how collisions of large-scale interstellar gas flows form and influence new dense clouds in the ISM.We performed LABOCA continuum sub-mm observations of Lupus I that provide for the first time a direct view of the densest, coldest cloud clumps and cores at high angular resolution.We complemented those by Herschel and Planck data from which we constructed column density and temperature maps.We calculated PDFs to characterize the density structure of the cloud.The northern part of Lupus I is found to have on average lower densities and higher temperatures as well as no active star formation.The center-south part harbors dozens of pre-stellar cores where density and temperature reach their maximum and minimum, respectively.Our analysis of the column density PDFs from the Herschel data show double peak profiles for all parts of the cloud which we attribute to an external compression.In those parts with active star formation, the PDF shows a power-law tail at high densities.The PDFs we calculated from our LABOCA data trace the denser parts of the cloud showing one peak and a power-law tail.With LABOCA we find 15 cores with masses between 0.07 and 1.71 Msun and a total mass of ~8 Msun.The total gas and dust mass of the cloud is ~164 Msun and hence 5% of the mass is in cores.From the Herschel and Planck data we find a total mass of ~174 Msun and ~171 Msun, respectively.The position, orientation and elongated shape of Lupus I, the double peak PDFs and the population of pre-stellar and protostellar cores could be explained by the large-scale compression from the advancing USco H I shell and the UCL wind bubble.

ASPITZERMIPS STUDY OF 2.5-2.0M☉STARS IN SCORPIUS-CENTAURUS

We have obtained Spitzer Space Telescope Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) 24 {\mu}m and 70 {\mu}m observations of 215 nearby, Hipparcos B- and A-type common proper motion single and binary systems in the nearest OB association, Scorpius-Centaurus. Combining our MIPS observations with those of other ScoCen stars in the literature, we estimate 24 {\mu}m B+A-type disk fractions of 17/67 (25+6%), 36/131 (27+4%), and 23/95 (24+5%) for Upper Scorpius (\sim11 Myr), Upper Centaurus Lupus (\sim15 Myr), and Lower Centaurus Crux (\sim17 Myr), respectively, somewhat smaller disk fractions than previously obtained for F- and G-type members. We confirm previous IRAS excess detections and present new discoveries of 51 protoplanetary and debris disk systems, with fractional infrared luminosities ranging from LIR/L\ast = 1e-6 to 1e-2 and grain temperatures ranging from Tgr = 40 - 300 K. In addition, we confirm that the 24 {\mu}m and 70 {\mu}m excesses (or fractional infrared luminosities) around B+A type stars are smaller than those measured toward F+G type stars and hypothesize that the observed disk property dependence on stellar mass may be the result of a higher stellar companion fraction around B- and A-type stars at 10 - 200 AU and/or the presence of Jupiter-mass companions in the disks around F- and G- type stars. Finally, we note that the majority of the ScoCen 24 {\mu}m excess sources also possess 12 {\mu}m excess, indicating that Earth-like planets may be forming via collisions in the terrestrial planet zone at \sim10 - 100 Myr.

A REVISED AGE FOR UPPER SCORPIUS AND THE STAR FORMATION HISTORY AMONG THE F-TYPE MEMBERS OF THE SCORPIUS-CENTAURUS OB ASSOCIATION

We present an analysis of the ages and star-formation history of the F-type stars in the Upper Scorpius (US), Upper Centaurus-Lupus (UCL) and Lower Centaurus-Crux (LCC) subgroups of Scorpius-Centaurus. We find that 1) our empirical isochrones are consistent with the previously published age-rank of the Sco-Cen subgroups, 2) LCC and UCL appear to reach the main sequence turn-on at spectral types ~F4 and ~F2, respectively. An analysis of the A-type stars shows US reaching the main sequence at about spectral type ~A3. 3) The median ages for the pre-main sequence members of UCL and LCC are 16 Myr and 17 Myr, respectively, in agreement with previous studies, however we find that 4) Upper Sco is much older than previously thought. The luminosities of the F-type stars in US are typically a factor of ~2.5 less luminous than predicted for a 5 Myr old population for four sets of evolutionary tracks. We reexamine the evolutionary state and isochronal ages for the B-, A-, and G-type Upper Sco members, and the evolved M supergiant Antares, and estimate a revised mean age for Upper Sco of 11+/-1+/-2 Myr (statistical, systematic). Using radial velocities and Hipparcos parallaxes we calculate a lower limit on the kinematic expansion age for Upper Sco of >10.5 Myr (99% confidence). However, the data are statistically consistent with no expansion. We reevaluate the inferred masses for the known substellar companions in Upper Sco using the revised age. Specifically, we estimate the mass of 1RXS J1609-2105b to be 14^{+2}_{-3} Mjup, suggesting that it is a brown dwarf rather than a planet. Finally, we find the fraction of F-type stars exhibiting Ha emission and/or a K-band excess consistent with accretion to be 0/17 (<19%; 95% C.L.) in US at ~11 Myr, while UCL has 1/41 (2^{+5}_{-1}%; 68% C.L.) accretors and LCC has 1/50 (2^{+4}_{-1}%; 68% C.L.) accretors at ~16 Myr and ~17 Myr, respectively. [Abridged]

LITHIUM IN THE UPPER CENTAURUS LUPUS AND LOWER CENTAURUS CRUX SUBGROUPS OF SCORPIUS–CENTAURUS

We utilize spectroscopically derived model atmosphere parameters and the \ion{Li}{1} $\lambda6104$ subordinate line and the $\lambda6708$ doublet to derive lithium abundances for 12 members of the Upper-Centaurus Lupus (UCL) and Lower-Centaurus Crux (LCC) subgroups of the Scorpius Centaurus OB Association. The results indicate any intrinsic Li scatter in our 0.9-1.4 $M_{\odot}$ stars is limited to ${\sim}0.15$ dex, consistent with the lack of dispersion in ${\ge}1.0$ $M_{\odot}$ stars in the 100 Myr Pleiades and 30-50 Myr IC 2391 and 2602 clusters. Both ab initio uncertainty estimates and the derived abundances themselves indicate that the $\lambda$6104 line yields abundances with equivalent or less scatter than is found from the $\lambda$6708 doublet as a result of lower uncertainties for the subordinate feature, a result of low sensitivity to broadening in the subordinate feature. Because NLTE corrections are less susceptible to changes in surface gravity and/or metallicity for the 6104 {\AA} line, the subordinate Li feature is preferred for deriving lithium abundances in young Li-rich stellar association stars with $T_{\rm eff}{\ge}5200$ K.