Rotational velocities of nearby young stars

TL;DR

This study examines the rotational velocities of nearby young stars to understand the influence of circumstellar disks on stellar spin evolution, revealing evidence of disk-braking and spin-up phases in early stellar development.

Contribution

It provides a new calibration method for deriving vsini from spectra and analyzes a large sample of young stars to identify disk-braking effects on stellar rotation.

Findings

Broad vsini distribution peaks at ~7.8 km/s

Indications of disk-braking in accretors

Evidence of rotational spin-up after disk decoupling

Abstract

Stellar rotation is a crucial parameter driving stellar magnetism, activity and mixing of chemical elements. Furthermore, the evolution of stellar rotation is coupled to the evolution of circumstellar disks. Disk-braking mechanisms are believed to be responsible for rotational deceleration during the accretion phase, and rotational spin-up during the contraction phase after decoupling from the disk for fast rotators arriving at the ZAMS. We investigate the projected rotational velocities vsini of a sample of young stars with respect to the stellar mass and disk evolutionary state to search for possible indications of disk-braking mechanisms. We analyse the stellar spectra of 220 nearby (mostly <100pc) young (2-600 Myr) stars for their vsini, stellar age, Halpha emission, and accretion rates. The stars have been observed with FEROS and HARPS in La Silla, Chile. The spectra have been cross-correlated with appropriate theoretical templates. We build a new calibration to be able to derive vsini values from the cross-correlated spectra. Stellar ages are estimated from the LiI equivalent width at 6708 Ang. The equivalent width and width at 10% height of the Halpha emission are measured to identify accretors and used to estimate accretion rates. The vsini is then analysed with respect to the evolutionary state of the circumstellar disks to search for indications of disk-braking mechanisms in accretors. We find that the broad vsini distribution of our targets extends to rotation velocities of up to more than 100 km/s and peaks at a value of 7.8+-1.2 km/s, and that ~70% of our stars show vsini<30 km/s. Furthermore, we can find indications for disk-braking in accretors and rotational spin-up of stars which are decoupled from their disks. In addition, we show that a number of young stars are suitable for precise radial-velocity measurements for planet-search surveys.