Wilson-Bappu Effect: Extended to Surface Gravity

TL;DR

This paper extends the Wilson-Bappu relationship to serve as a reliable indicator of stellar surface gravity in late-type stars by analyzing Ca II K emission line widths and stellar parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a new empirical relation linking Ca II K line width and stellar surface gravity, enhancing the utility of WBR for stellar characterization.

Findings

WBR correlates with stellar absolute magnitude (Mv)

Derived a relation between logg and line width W

Extended WBR to estimate surface gravity in late-type stars

Abstract

Wilson and Bappu found a tight correlation between the stellar absolute visual magnitude (Mv) and the width of the Ca II K emission line for late-type stars in 1957. Here, we revisit the Wilson-Bappu relationship (hereafter, WBR) to claim that WBR can be an excellent indicator of stellar surface gravity of late-type stars as well as a distance indicator. We have measured the width (W) of the Ca II K emission line in high resolution spectra of 125 late-type stars, which were obtained with Bohyunsan Optical Echelle Spectrograph (BOES) and adopted from the UVES archive. Based on our measurement of the emission line width (W), we have obtained a WBR of Mv = 33.76 - 18.08 logW. In order to extend the WBR to be a surface gravity indicator, the stellar atmospheric parameters such as effective temperature (Teff), surface gravity (logg), metallicity ([Fe/H]), and micro-turbulence ($\xi_{tur}$) have been derived from the self-consistent detailed analysis using the Kurucz stellar atmospheric model and the abundance analysis code, MOOG. Using these stellar parameters and logW, we found that logg = - 5.85 logW + 9.97 logTeff - 23.48 for late-type stars.