Why are rapidly rotating M dwarfs in the Pleiades so (infra)red? New period measurements confirm rotation-dependent color offsets from the cluster sequence

TL;DR

This study measures rotation periods for low-mass stars in the Pleiades, revealing a correlation between rotation rate and color offsets, which impacts understanding of stellar angular momentum evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first extensive rotation period data for low-mass Pleiades stars, confirming rotation-dependent color anomalies and refining models of stellar angular momentum evolution.

Findings

Rapid rotators are redder in (V-K) than slow rotators at the same V magnitude.

No significant difference in photometric amplitudes between rapid and slow rotators.

Rotation period correlates with position relative to the main sequence in the color-magnitude diagram.

Abstract

Stellar rotation periods measured in open clusters have proved to be extremely useful for studying stars' angular momentum content and rotationally driven magnetic activity, which are both age- and mass-dependent processes. While period measurements have been obtained for hundreds of solar-mass members of the Pleiades, period measurements exist for only a few low-mass ($<$0.5 M$_{\odot}$) members of this key laboratory for stellar evolution theory. To fill this gap, we report rotation periods for 132 low-mass Pleiades members (including nearly 100 with M $\leq$ 0.45 M$_{\odot}$), measured from photometric monitoring of the cluster conducted by the Palomar Transient Factory in late 2011 and early 2012. These periods extend the portrait of stellar rotation at 125 Myr to the lowest-mass stars and re-establish the Pleiades as a key benchmark for models of the transport and evolution of stellar angular momentum. Combining our new rotation periods with precise BVIJHK photometry reported by Stauffer et al. and Kamai et al., we investigate known anomalies in the photometric properties of K and M Pleiades members. We confirm the correlation detected by Kamai et al. between a star's rotation period and position relative to the main sequence in the cluster's color-magnitude diagram. We find that rapid rotators have redder (V-K) colors than slower rotators at the same V, indicating that rapid and slow rotators have different binary frequencies and/or photospheric properties. We find no difference in the photometric amplitudes of rapid and slow rotators, indicating that asymmetries in the longitudinal distribution of starspots do not scale grossly with rotation rate.