A Survey for New Members of the Taurus Star-Forming Region with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

TL;DR

This study expands the census of Taurus star-forming region members using SDSS data, confirming a surplus of solar-mass stars compared to denser clusters, and refines spectral classifications with new and existing spectra.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale optical and near-infrared survey of Taurus members, identifying 22 new members and refining spectral classifications, thus improving understanding of the region's stellar population.

Findings

Confirmed a surplus of solar-mass stars in Taurus.

Identified 22 new Taurus members, including a very cool M9.75 object.

Refined spectral types and extinctions for known members.

Abstract

Previous studies have found that ~1 deg2 fields surrounding the stellar aggregates in the Taurus star-forming region exhibit a surplus of solar-mass stars relative to denser clusters like IC~348 and the Orion Nebula Cluster. To test whether this difference reflects mass segregation in Taurus or a variation in the IMF, we have performed a survey for members of Taurus across a large field (~40 deg2) that was imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We obtained optical and near-infrared spectra of candidate members identified with those images and the Two Micron All Sky Survey, as well as miscellaneous candidates that were selected with several other diagnostics of membership. We have classified 22 of the candidates as new members of Taurus, which includes one of the coolest known members (M9.75). Our updated census of members within the SDSS field shows a surplus of solar-mass stars relative to clusters, although it is less pronounced than in the smaller fields towards the stellar aggregates that were surveyed for previously measured mass functions in Taurus. In addition to spectra of our new members, we include in our study near-IR spectra of roughly half of the known members of Taurus, which are used to refine their spectral types and extinctions. We also present an updated set of near-IR standard spectra for classifying young stars and brown dwarfs at M and L types.