A general method of estimating stellar astrophysical parameters from photometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a versatile algorithm that estimates stellar parameters from broad-band photometry, effectively handling interstellar reddening and enabling accurate characterization of stars using large photometric surveys.

Contribution

It presents a novel interval-cluster analysis method for deriving stellar parameters from broad-band photometry, improving accuracy and solution selection over previous techniques.

Findings

Successfully applied to Kurucz models and stellar catalogs

Can determine parameters even with interstellar reddening

Provides the most probable stellar solution in parameter space

Abstract

Applying photometric catalogs to the study of the population of the Galaxy is obscured by the impossibility to map directly photometric colors into astrophysical parameters. Most of all-sky catalogs like ASCC or 2MASS are based upon broad-band photometric systems, and the use of broad photometric bands complicates the determination of the astrophysical parameters for individual stars. This paper presents an algorithm for determining stellar astrophysical parameters (effective temperature, gravity and metallicity) from broad-band photometry even in the presence of interstellar reddening. This method suits the combination of narrow bands as well. We applied the method of interval-cluster analysis to finding stellar astrophysical parameters based on the newest Kurucz models calibrated with the use of a compiled catalog of stellar parameters. Our new method of determining astrophysical parameters allows all possible solutions to be located in the effective temperature-gravity-metallicity space for the star and selection of the most probable solution.