The Near Infrared NaI Doublet Feature in M Stars

Abstract

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 observed and synthetic spectra of cool stars. We conclude that the NaI infrared feature can be used as a dwarf/giant discriminator. We propose a modified definition of the NaI index by locating the red continuum at 8234 angstrons and by measuring the equivalent width in the range 8172-8197 angstrons, avoiding the region at lambda > 8197 angstrons, which contains VI, ZrI, FeI and TiO lines. We also study the dependence of this feature on stellar atmospheric parameters.

9 pages, (TeX file) + 7 Figures in Postscript format. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (1)

• Model Atmospheres for M (Sub)Dwarfs: I. The base model grid

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