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The empirical mass-luminosity relation for low mass stars

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Abstract

This work is devoted to improving empirical mass-luminosity relations (MLR) and mass-metallicity-luminosity relation (MMLR) for low mass stars. For these stars, observational data in the mass-luminosity plane or the mass-metallicity-luminosity space subject to non-negligible errors in all coordinates with different dimensions. Thus a reasonable weight assigning scheme is needed for obtaining more reliable results. Such a scheme is developed, with which each data point can have its own due contribution. Previous studies have shown that there exists a plateau feature in the MLR. Taking into account the constraints from the observational luminosity function, we find by fitting the observational data using our weight assigning scheme that the plateau spans from 0.28M⊙ to 0.50M⊙. Three-piecewise continuous improved MLRs in K, J, H and V bands, respectively, are obtained. The visual MMLR is also improved based on our K band MLR and the available observational metallicity data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Fang Xia, Shulin Ren & Yanning Fu

  2. Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Fang Xia & Shulin Ren

Authors
  1. Fang Xia
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  2. Shulin Ren
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  3. Yanning Fu
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Correspondence to Fang Xia.

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Xia, F., Ren, S. & Fu, Y. The empirical mass-luminosity relation for low mass stars. Astrophys Space Sci 314, 51–58 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-007-9729-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-007-9729-8

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