More Rapidly Rotating PMS M Dwarfs with Light Curves Suggestive of Orbiting Clouds of Material

Abstract

In a previous paper, using data from K2 Campaign 2, we identified 11 very low mass members of the $\rho$ Oph and Upper Scorpius star-forming region as having periodic photometric variability and phased light curves showing multiple scallops or undulations. All the stars with the "scallop-shell" light curve morphology are mid-to-late M dwarfs without evidence of active accretion, and with photometric periods generally $<$1 day. Their phased light curves have too much structure to be attributed to non-axisymmetrically distributed photospheric spots and rotational modulation. We have now identified an additional eight probable members of the same star-forming region plus three stars in the Taurus star-forming region with this same light curve morphology and sharing the same period and spectral type range as the previous group. We describe the light curves of these new stars in detail and present their general physical characteristics. We also examine the properties of the overall set of stars in order to identify common features that might help elucidate the causes of their photometric variability.

arXiv commentAccepted by AJ; 22 pages, 15 figures

References in corpus (32)

• The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance
• The Gaia mission
• The Spitzer Space Telescope Mission
• The K2 Mission: Characterization and Early results
• New evolutionary models for pre-main sequence and main sequence low-mass stars down to the hydrogen-burning limit
• The Tenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
• The Infrared Astronomical Mission AKARI
• Measuring the rotation period distribution of field M-dwarfs with Kepler
• CSI 2264: Simultaneous optical and infrared light curves of young disk-bearing stars in NGC 2264 with CoRoT and Spitzer-- evidence for multiple origins of variability
• Magnetic Inhibition of Convection and the Fundamental Properties of Low-Mass Stars. III. A Consistent 10 Myr Age for the Upper Scorpius OB Association
• EVEREST: Pixel Level Decorrelation of K2 Light curves
• YSOVAR: the first sensitive, wide-area, mid-IR photometric monitoring of the ONC
• Possible Disintegrating Short-Period Super-Mercury Orbiting KIC 12557548
• Planetary Candidates from the First Year of the K2 Mission
• A Class of Eccentric Binaries with Dynamic Tidal Distortions Discovered with Kepler
• A Multi-wavelength study of the M dwarf binary YY Geminorum
• Optical Spectroscopy of the Surface Population of the rho Ophiuchi Molecular Cloud: The First Wave of Star Formation
• The K2-ESPRINT Project. I. Discovery of the Disintegrating Rocky Planet K2-22b with a Cometary Head and Leading Tail
• CSI 2264: Characterizing Young Stars in NGC 2264 with Short-Duration, Periodic Flux Dips in their Light Curves
• Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: Placing Our Solar System in Context with Spitzer
• New Pre-main-Sequence Stars in the Upper Scorpius Subgroup of Sco-Cen
• Rotation in the Pleiades With K2: III. Speculations on Origins and Evolution
• Rotation in the Pleiades with K2: II. Multi-Period Stars
• Orbiting Clouds of Material at the Keplerian Co-Rotation Radius of Rapidly Rotating Low Mass WTTs in Upper Sco
• A continuum of accretion burst behavior in young stars observed by K2
• A Distributed Population of Low Mass Pre-Main Sequence Stars near the Taurus Molecular Clouds
• The Initial Mass Function and Disk Frequency of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud: An Extinction-Limited Sample
• The shortest-period M-dwarf eclipsing system BW3 V38
• The shortest period M-dwarf eclipsing system BW3 V38, II: determination of absolute elements
• The Pseudosynchronization of Binary Stars Undergoing Strong Tidal Interactions
• A Transient Transit Signature Associated with the Young Star RIK-210
• Magnetospherically-trapped dust and a possible model for the unusual transits at WD 1145+017

Cited by in corpus (23)

• Rotation of Low-Mass Stars in Upper Scorpius and Rho Ophiuchus with K2
• Refining the Census of the Upper Scorpius Association with Gaia
• Age Determination in Upper Scorpius with Eclipsing Binaries
• Rotation of Low-Mass Stars in Taurus with K2
• A Census of the Stellar Populations in the Sco-Cen Complex
• New Young Stars and Brown Dwarfs in the Upper Scorpius Association
• Complex Rotational Modulation of Rapidly Rotating M-Stars Observed with TESS
• A Survey for New Stars and Brown Dwarfs in the Ophiuchus Star-forming Complex
• Photometric variability of TW~Hya from seconds to years as seen from space and the ground in 2013-2017
• The B-Star Exoplanet Abundance Study: a co-moving 16-25 Mjup companion to the young binary system HIP 79098
• Rotation of Low-Mass Stars in Upper Centaurus Lupus and Lower Centaurus Crux with TESS
• Complex Modulation of Rapidly Rotating Young M Dwarfs: Adding Pieces to the Puzzle
• Planetesimals Around Stars with TESS (PAST): I. Transient Dimming of a Binary Solar Analog at the End of the Planet Accretion Era
• Even More Rapidly Rotating Pre-Main Sequence M Dwarfs with Highly Structured Light Curves: An Initial Survey in the Lower Centaurus-Crux and Upper Centaurus-Lupus Associations
• Examining the Rotation Period Distribution of the 40 Myr Tucana-Horologium Association with TESS
• Evidence for Centrifugal Breakout around the Young M Dwarf TIC 234284556
• Spectroscopy of Candidate Members of the Sco-Cen Complex
• Can scallop-shell stars trap dust in their magnetic fields?
• Clumpy dust rings around non-accreting young stars
• Optimal frequency-domain analysis for spacecraft time series: Introducing the missing-data multitaper power spectrum estimator
• Pleiades or Not? Resolving the Status of the Lithium Rich M Dwarfs HHJ339 and HHJ430
• PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet
• YETI follow-up observations of the T Tauri star CVSO30 with transit-like dips