Abstract
McQuillan et al. (Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 432:1203, 2013) presented 1570 periods \(P\) of M dwarf stars in the field of view of the Kepler telescope. It is expected that most of these reflect rotation periods, due to starspots. It is shown here that the data can be modelled as a mixture of four subpopulations, three of which are overlapping log-normal distributions. The fourth subpopulation has a power law distribution, with \(P^{-1/2}\). It is also demonstrated that the bulk of the longer periods, representing the two major subpopulations, could be drawn from a single subpopulation, but with a period-dependent probability of observing half the true period.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrews, D.W.K.: Econometrica 69, 683 (2001)
Borucki, W.J., et al.: Science 327, 977 (2010)
Botev, Z.I., Grotowski, J.F., Kroese, D.P.: Ann. Stat. 38, 2916 (2010)
D’Agostino, R.B., Stephens, M.A. (eds.): Goodness-of-Fit Techniques. Dekker, New York (1986)
Davenport, J.R.A.: Astrophys. J. 835, 16 (2017)
De Marchi, F., Poretti, E., Montalto, M., Desidera, S., Piotto, G.: Astron. Astrophys. 509, A17 (2010)
Hawley, S.L., Davenport, J.R.A., Kowalski, A.F., Wisniewski, J.P., Hebb, L., Deitrick, R., Hilton, E.J.: Astrophys. J. 797, 121 (2014)
Kado-Fong, E., et al.: Astrophys. J. 833, 281 (2016)
Koen, C., Bere, A.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 420, 405 (2012)
Lewis, F., Butler, A., Gilbert, L.: Methods Ecol. Evol. 2, 155 (2011)
McLachlan, G.J.: J. R. Stat. Soc., Ser. C 36, 318 (1987)
McQuillan, A., Aigrain, S., Mazeh, T.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 432, 1203 (2013)
McQuillan, A., Mazeh, T., Aigrain, S.: Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 211, 24 (2014)
Miloslavsky, M., van der Laan, M.J.: Comput. Stat. Data Anal. 41, 413 (2003)
Mood, A.M., Graybill, F.A., Boes, D.C.: Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, Auckland (1974)
Newton, E.R., Irwin, J., Charbonneau, D., Berta-Thompson, Z.K., Dittmann, J.A., West, A.A.: Astrophys. J. 821, 93 (2016)
Rebull, L.M., Stauffer, J.R., Hillenbrand, L.A., Cody, A.M., Bouvier, J., Soderblom, D.R., Pinsonneault, M., Hebb, L.: Astrophys. J. 839, 92 (2017)
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful for a South African National Research Foundation grant. Two referee’s reports led to considerable clarification of the material in the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Koen, C. Modelling the rotation period distribution of M dwarfs in the Kepler field. Astrophys Space Sci 363, 11 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-017-3225-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-017-3225-6