Related papers: Observational Constraints on the Formation and Evo…
We present new X-ray and Far Ultraviolet (FUV) observations of T Tauri stars covering the age range 1 to 10 Myr. Our goals are to observationally constrain the intensity of radiation fields responsible for evaporating gas from the…
We surveyed thirteen very low mass (VLM; M < 0.2 M_sun) objects in the Taurus star-forming region using near-infrared diffraction-limited imaging techniques on the W.M. Keck I 10 m telescope. Of these thirteen, five were found to be binary,…
We present the results of a multiplicity survey of 212 T Tauri stars in the Chamaeleon I and Taurus-Auriga star-forming regions, based on high-resolution spectra from the Magellan Clay 6.5 m telescope. From these data, we achieved a typical…
One of the most effective ways to test stellar evolutionary models is to measure dynamical masses for binary systems at a range of temperatures. In this paper, we present orbits of three young K+M binary systems in Taurus (Hubble~4, FF~Tau,…
We analyze the spatial distributions of young stars in Taurus-Auriga and Upper Sco as determined from the two-point correlation function (i.e. the mean surface density of neighbors). The corresponding power-law fits allow us to determine…
We conduct a multiplicity survey of members of the rho Ophiuchus cloud complex with high resolution imaging to characterize the multiple star population of this nearby star forming region and investigate the relation between stellar…
Young low-mass stars of equal-mass exhibit a distribution of rotation periods. At the very early phases of stellar evolution, this distribution is set by the star-disc locking mechanism. The primordial disc lifetime and, consequently, the…
Classical T Tauri stars are young low-mass systems still accreting material from their disks. These systems are dynamic on timescales of hours to years. The observed variability can help us infer the physical processes that occur in the…
We have discovered T Tauri stars which show startling spectral variability between observations seperated by 20 years. In spectra published by Bouvier & Appenzeller (1992) these objects showed very weak H-alpha emission, broad CaII…
This paper describes a high-resolution, infrared spectroscopic survey of young, low-mass stars designed to identify and characterize pre-main-sequence spectroscopic binaries. This is the first large infrared radial velocity survey of very…
Binary systems are very common among field stars. While this relatively small number of planets in binaries is probably partly due to strong observational biases, there is, however, statistical evidence that planets are indeed less frequent…
Young close binaries open central gaps in the surrounding circumbinary accretion disc, but the stellar components may still gain mass from gas crossing through the gap. It is not well understood how this process operates and how the stellar…
Close binary systems present challenges to planet formation. As binary separations decrease, so too do the occurrence rates of protoplanetary disks in young systems and planets in mature systems. For systems that do retain disks, their disk…
Recent surveys have identified sub-stellar objects down to planetary masses in nearby star-forming regions. Reliable determination of the disk frequency in young brown dwarfs is of paramount importance to understanding their origin. Here we…
Investigating the evolution of protoplanetary disks is crucial for our understanding of star and planet formation. Several theoretical and observational studies have been performed in the last decades to advance this knowledge. FT Tauri is…
The full disk, full of gas and dust, determines the upper limit of planet masses, and its lifetime is critical for planet formation, especially for giant planets. In this work, we studied the evolutionary timescales of the full disks of T…
The variability of young stellar objects is mostly driven by star-disk interactions. In long-term photometric monitoring of the accreting T Tauri star GI Tau, we detect extinction events with typical depths of $\Delta V \sim 2.5$ mag that…
Joint statistics of periods and mass ratios of close binaries and its dependence on primary mass can be explained by assuming that seed binary companions are formed by disc fragmentation at random intervals during assemblage of stellar mass…
Over the past year, we have conducted a multi-faceted program to investigate the origin and early evolution of brown dwarfs. Using high-resolution Keck optical spectra of ~30 objects near and below the sub-stellar boundary in several…
The mass and chemical composition of a star are the primary determinants of its basic physical properties--radius, temperature, luminosity--and how those properties evolve with time. Thus, two stars born at the same time, from the same…