Related papers: The Na 8200 Angstrom Doublet as an Age Indicator i…

Measurement of the substellar initial mass function (IMF) in very young clusters is hampered by the possibility of the age spread of cluster members. This is particularly serious for candidate planetary mass objects (PMOs), which have a…

We have completed a high-resolution (R=60,000) optical spectroscopic survey of 185 nearby M dwarfs identified using ROSAT data to select active, young objects with fractional X-ray luminosities comparable to or greater than Pleiades…

The NaI near-infrared doublet has been used to indicate the dwarf/giant population in composite systems, but its interpretation is still a contentious issue. In order to understand the behaviour of this controversial feature, we study the…

Using a large sample of optical spectra of late-type dwarfs, we identify a subset of late-M through L field dwarfs that, because of the presence of low-gravity features in their spectra, are believed to be unusually young. From a combined…

As part of a comprehensive effort to characterize the nearest stars, the CHIRON echelle spectrograph on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m telescope is being used to acquire high resolution (R = 80000) spectra of K dwarfs within 50 parsecs. This paper…

Synthetic spectra for single-aged stellar populations of metallicities [M/H] = -0.5, 0.0 and +0.5, ages = 3 to 17 Gyrs, and initial mass function exponents x = 0.1 to 2.0 were built in the wavelength range 6000-10200 Angstrons. For such we…

Low-mass stars exhibit substantial pre-main sequence evolution during the first ~100 Myrs of their lives. Thus, young M-type stars are prime targets for isochronal dating, especially in young moving groups (YMGs), which contain large…

We present radial velocities for 38 low-mass candidate members of the sigma Orionis young group. We have measured their radial velocities by cross-correlation of high resolution (R~6000) AF2/WYFFOS spectra of the gravity sensitive NaI…

M dwarfs remain active over longer timescales than their Sunlike counterparts, with potentially devastating implications for the atmospheres of their planets. However, the age at which fully-convective M dwarfs transition from active and…

We present a new method for determining the age of late-K type pre-main sequence (PMS) stars by deriving their surface gravity from high-resolution I-band spectroscopy. Since PMS stars contract as they evolve, age can be estimated from…

We present a new method to derive the age of young (<0.7 Gyr) L dwarfs based on their near-infrared photometry, colours, and distances. The method is based on samples of L dwarfs belonging to the Upper Sco association (5 Myr), the Alpha Per…

We investigate techniques that can be used to determine ages of starburst regions containing populations beyond their early nebular phase. In particular, we study the strength of the CaII triplet (lambda 8498, 8542, 8662 Ang) and the CO…

White dwarf stars have been used for decades as precise and accurate age indicators. This work presents a test of the reliability of white dwarf total ages when spectroscopic observations are available. We conduct follow-up spectroscopy of…

The study of stellar populations in early-type galaxies in different environments is a powerful tool for constraining their star formation histories. This study has been traditionally restricted to the optical range, where dwarfs around the…

A new method is presented to compute age estimates from theoretical isochrones using temperature, luminosity and metallicity data for individual stars. Based on Bayesian probability theory, this method avoids the systematic biases affecting…

The bright, nearby DA-type white dwarf (WD) 40 Eridani B is orbited by the M dwarf 40 Eri C, allowing determination of the WD's mass. Until recently, however, the mass depended on orbital elements determined four decades ago, and that mass…

2MASS J03202839-0446358AB is a recently identified, late-type M dwarf/T dwarf spectroscopic binary system for which both the radial velocity orbit for the primary and spectral types for both components have been determined. By combining…

We present near-infrared (1.0-2.4 micron) spectra confirming the youth and cool effective temperatures of 6 brown dwarfs and low mass stars with circumstellar disks toward the Chamaeleon II and Ophiuchus star forming regions. The spectrum…

White dwarf (WD) stars evolve simply and predictably, making them reliable age indicators. However, self-consistent validation of the methods for determining WD total ages has yet to be widely performed. This work uses 1565 wide ( > 100 au)…

Late M-type dwarfs in the solar neighborhood include a mixture of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs which is difficult to disentangle due to the lack of constraints on their age such as trigonometric parallax, lithium detection and space…