Barnes-Evans relations for dwarfs with an application to the determination of distances to cataclysmic variables

Abstract

Barnes-Evans type relations provide an empirical relationship between the surface brightness of stars and their color. They are widely used for measuring the distances to stars of known radii, as the Roche-lobe filling secondaries in cataclysmic variables (CVs). The calibration of the surface brightness of field dwarfs of near-solar metalicity with spectral types A0 to L8 covers all secondary spectral types detectable in CVs and related objects and will aid in the measurement of their distances. The calibrations are based on the radii of field dwarfs measured by the Infrared Flux Method and by interferometry. Published photometry is used and homogenized to the Cousins Rc and Ic and the CIT JHK photometric systems. The narrow band surface brightness at 7500A is based on our own and published spectrophotometry. Care is taken to select the dwarfs for near-solar metalicity, appropriate to CVs, and to avoid errors caused by unrecognized binarity. Relations are provided for the surface brightness in V, Rc, Ic, J, H, K and in a narrow band at 7500A as functions of V-K and of spectral type. The method is tested with selected CVs for which independent information on their distances is available. The observed spread in the radii of early M-dwarfs of given mass or luminosity and its influence on the distance measurements of CVs is discussed. As long as accurate trigonometric parallaxes are not routinely available for a large number of CVs, the surface brightness method remains a reliable means of determining distances to CVs in which a spectral signature of the secondary star can be discerned.

Astronomy & Astrophysics in press, 11 pages

References in corpus (25)

• The USNO-B Catalog
• Catalogue of cataclysmic binaries, low-mass X-ray binaries and related objects (Seventh edition)
• Astrometry and Photometry for Cool Dwarfs and Brown Dwarfs
• Sixty-seven Additional L Dwarfs Discovered by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)
• Absolute dimensions of the M-type eclipsing binary YY Geminorum (Castor C): a challenge to evolutionary models in the lower main-sequence
• Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations for FGK stars : 2001 edition
• First radius measurements of very low mass stars with the VLTI
• GU Boo: A New 0.6 Msun Detached Eclipsing Binary
• The 0.4-Mo Eclipsing Binary CU Cancri: Absolute Dimensions, Comparison with Evolutionary Models and Possible Evidence for a Circumstellar Dust Disk
• First Results from the CHARA Array. IV. The Interferometric Radii of Low-Mass Stars
• JHK Magnitudes for L and T Dwarfs and Infrared Photometric Systems
• Hubble Space Telescope Spectroscopy of V471 Tauri: Oversized K Star, Paradoxical White Dwarf
• Parallax and Distance Estimates for Fourteen Cataclysmic Variable Stars
• Far-ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables
• HST Fine Guidance Sensor Astrometric Parallaxes for Three Dwarf Novae: SS Aurigae, SS Cygni, and U Geminorum
• FUSE and HST/STIS far-ultraviolet observations of AM Herculis in an extended low state
• A precise HST parallax of the cataclysmic variable EX Hydrae, its system parameters, and accretion rate
• An HST parallax of the distant cataclysmic variable V1223 Sgr, its system parameters, and accretion rate
• The Detection of 13CO and Other Apparent Abundance Anomalies in the Secondary Stars of Long-Period Cataclysmic Variables
• Interferometric Astrometry with Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor 3:The Parallax of the Cataclysmic Variable TV Columbae
• Calibration of the Barnes-Evans relation using interferometric observations of Cepheids
• Astrometry with Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor 3: The Parallax of the Cataclysmic Variable RW Triangulum
• A model for the optical high state light curve of AM Herculis
• Implications of the HST/FGS parallax of SS Cygni on the disc instability model
• The secondary star and distance of the polar V1309 Ori

Cited by in corpus (33)

• The Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables as Revealed by their Donor Stars
• A Volume Limited Sample of Cataclysmic Variables from $Gaia$ DR2: Space Density and Population Properties
• Cataclysmic Variable Primary Effective Temperatures: Constraints on Binary Angular Momentum Loss
• Post Common Envelope Binaries from SDSS. I: 101 white dwarf main sequence binaries with multiple SDSS spectroscopy
• Physical properties of IP Pegasi: an eclipsing dwarf nova with an unusually cool white dwarf
• Constraining the Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables via the Masses and Accretion Rates of their Underlying White Dwarfs
• Cross-calibration of the X-ray Instruments onboard the Chandra, INTEGRAL, RXTE, Suzaku, Swift, and XMM-Newton Observatories using G21.5-0.9
• The Clusters AgeS Experiment (CASE). IV. Analysis of the Eclipsing Binary V69 in the Globular Cluster 47 Tuc
• Properties of the Galactic population of cataclysmic variables in hard X-rays
• An accurate geometric distance to the compact binary SS Cygni vindicates accretion disc theory
• A New Low-Mass Eclipsing Binary from SDSS-II
• An accurate mass and radius measurement for an ultracool white dwarf
• High-resolution spectroscopy of the intermediate polar EX Hydrae. I. Kinematic study and Roche tomography
• Spectroscopy of Nine Cataclysmic Variable Stars
• A magnetic white dwarf in a detached eclipsing binary
• The pre-cataclysmic variable, LTT560
• Orbital periods of cataclysmic variables identified by the SDSS. VI. The 4.5-hr period eclipsing system SDSS J100658.40+233724.4
• Distances of CVs and related objects derived from Gaia Data Release 1
• Orbital periods of cataclysmic variables identified by the SDSS. VII. Four new eclipsing systems
• A new soft X-ray spectral model for polars with an application to AM Herculis
• The Intermediate Polar EI UMa: A Pre-Polar Cataclysmic Variable
• Soft X-ray spectral variability of AM Herculis
• Galactic model parameters of cataclysmic variables: Results from a new absolute magnitude calibration with 2MASS and WISE
• The high-field polar RX J1007.5-2017
• Spectroscopy of the enigmatic short-period cataclysmic variable IR Com in an extended low state
• ASAS-SN 13cl : A Newly-Discovered Cataclysmic Binary with an Anomalously Warm Secondary
• X-ray and optical observations of four polars
• UV-excess sources with a red/IR-counterpart: low-mass companions, debris disks and QSO selection
• The Eclipsing Cataclysmic Variable Lanning 386: Dwarf Nova, SW Sextantis Star, or Both?
• XMM-Newton Observations of the Peculiar Cataclysmic Variable Lanning 386: X-ray evidence for a Magnetic Primary
• A critical analysis of three near-infrared photometric methods of estimating distances to cataclysmic variables
• PTF1 J085713+331843, a new post common-envelope binary in the orbital period gap of cataclysmic variables
• Infrared photometry of the dwarf nova V2051 Ophiuchi: I - The mass donor star and the distance