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A Data-Driven M Dwarf Model and Detailed Abundances for ∼17,000 M Dwarfs in SDSS-V

By Keith Cowing
Status Report
astro-ph.SR
January 29, 2025
Filed under , , , , , , ,
A Data-Driven M Dwarf Model and Detailed Abundances for ∼17,000 M Dwarfs in SDSS-V
1-to-1 plots of our inferred abundances vs. the reported abundances of M dwarfs from the Hyades cluster using either our FGK-M sample (top row) or the Souto et al. (2022) sample (bottom row) as the training set. The points are colored by the χ2 of the flux model spectral fit. We report the rms scatter between the inferred and reported abundance values from Wanderley et al. (2023) in the top left of each plot, and the scatter of the reported values for that label below. The rms scatter from training on our FGK-M sample (∼0.05 dex) are lower than those from training on the Souto et al. (2022) sample (∼0.07−0.08 dex). — astro-ph.SR

The cool temperatures of M dwarf atmospheres enable complex molecular chemistry, making robust characterization of M dwarf compositions a long-standing challenge.

Recent modifications to spectral synthesis pipelines have enabled more accurate modeling of M dwarf atmospheres, but these methods are too slow for characterizing more than a handful of stars at a time. Data-driven methods such as The Cannon are viable alternatives, and can harness the information content of many M dwarfs from large spectroscopic surveys.

Here, we train The Cannon on M dwarfs with FGK binary companions from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V/Milky Way Mapper (SDSS-V/MWM), with spectra from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). The FGK-M pairs are assumed to be chemically homogeneous and span −0.56 < [Fe/H] < 0.31 dex. The resulting model is capable of inferring M dwarf Teff and elemental abundances for Fe, Mg, Al, Si, C, N, O, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Ni with median uncertainties of 13 K and 0.018−0.029 dex, respectively.

We test the model by verifying that it reproduces reported abundance values of M dwarfs in open clusters and benchmark M dwarf datasets, as well as expected metallicity trends from stellar evolution. We apply the model to 16,590 M dwarfs in SDSS-V/MWM and provide their detailed abundances in our accompanying catalog.

Aida Behmard, Melissa K. Ness, Andrew R. Casey, Ruth Angus, Katia Cunha, Diogo Souto, Yuxi (Lucy)Lu, Jennifer A. Johnson

Comments: 14 pages, 13 figures, accepted to ApJ
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
Cite as: arXiv:2501.14955 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:2501.14955v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.14955
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Submission history
From: Aida Behmard
[v1] Fri, 24 Jan 2025 22:44:11 UTC (6,426 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.14955
Astrobiology,

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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