The CASTOFFS Survey : Pursuit of Young M Dwarfs Adrift in the Solar Neighborhood

Séminaire IPAG de Joshua Schlieder (MPIA), jeudi 5 décembre 2013 à 11h00, IPAG seminar room

The census of young, M dwarfs in the solar neighborhood is incomplete. Many constituents of the known sample are members of nearby, young moving groups (NYMGs) ; loose associations of coeval stars with common Galactic kinematics. By mining astrometric and photometric catalogs, new candidates of this under-sampled population can be found via their possible association with NYMGs. We have therefore launched the Cool Astrometrically Selected Targets Optimal For Follow-up Spectroscopy (CASTOFFS) survey to identify and characterize previously unrecognized young, low-mass stars. We combine astrometry, photometry, and activity to find candidates and use dedicated spectroscopic follow-up to verify their youth. We are now 1.5 years into CASTOFFS and I will present early results to highlight new discoveries and provide a flavor of whats to come. These results include two low-mass multiple systems : the first, a young hierarchical triple where the primary hosts a candidate debris disk, the other, a 1 AU separation, young, late-M binary. I will also introduce likely new members of NYMGs and detail their potential as follow-up targets in further multiplicity studies and exoplanet imaging campaigns.