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| Paper: |
Low–Mass Stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Galactic
Structure, Kinematics, and the Luminosity Function |
| Volume: |
448, 16th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun |
| Page: |
347 |
| Authors: |
Bochanski, J. J. |
| Abstract: |
Modern sky surveys, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and
the Two–Micron All Sky Survey, have revolutionized the study of
low–mass stars. With millions of photometric and spectroscopic
observations, intrinsic stellar properties can be studied with
unprecedented statistical significance. Low–mass stars dominate the
local Milky Way and are ideal tracers of the Galactic potential and the
thin and thick disks. Recent efforts, driven by SDSS observations,
have sought to place the local
low-mass stellar population in a broader Galactic context.
I highlight a recent measurement of the luminosity and mass functions
of M dwarfs, using a new technique optimized for large surveys.
Starting with SDSS photometry, the
field luminosity function and local Galactic structure are
measured simultaneously. The sample size used to estimate the LF is
nearly three orders of magnitude larger than any previous study,
offering a definitive measurement of this quantity. The observed LF is
transformed into a mass function and compared to previous studies.
Ongoing investigations employing M dwarfs as tracers of
Galactic kinematics are also discussed. SDSS spectroscopy has produced databases
containing tens of thousands of low–mass stars, forming a
powerful probe of the kinematic structure of the Milky Way. SDSS
spectroscopic studies are complemented by large proper motion surveys,
which have uncovered thousands of common proper motion binaries
containing low–mass stars. Additionally, the SDSS spectroscopic data
explore the intrinsic properties of M dwarfs, including metallicity
and magnetic activity.
The highlighted projects demonstrate the advantages and problems with using
large data sets and will pave the way for studies with next–generation
surveys, such as PanSTARRS and LSST. |
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