Radial velocity survey of spatially resolved young, low-mass binaries

TL;DR

This study conducts a radial velocity survey of young, low-mass binary systems to improve orbital and mass measurements, aiding stellar model calibration and age estimation of young moving groups.

Contribution

It provides new radial velocity data for 29 low-mass binaries, including the discovery of a new component in a spectroscopic multiple, enhancing orbital analysis and youth diagnostics.

Findings

Detection of a new component in a spectroscopic multiple system.

Most targets lack additional tidally synchronized companions, supporting youth indicators.

Identification of a likely old field interloper among young moving group members.

Abstract

The identification and characterisation of low-mass binaries is of importance for a range of astrophysical investigations. Low-mass binaries in young ($\sim10 - 100 $ Myr) moving groups (YMGs) are of particular significance as they provide unique opportunities to calibrate stellar models and evaluate the ages and coevality of the groups themselves. Low-mass M-dwarfs have pre-main sequence life times on the order of $\sim100$ Myr and therefore are continually evolving along a mass-luminosity track throughout the YMG phase, providing ideal laboratories for precise isochronal dating, if a model-independent dynamical mass can be measured. AstraLux lucky imaging multiplicity surveys have recently identified hundreds of new YMG low-mass binaries, where a subsample of M-dwarf multiples have estimated orbital periods less than 50 years. We have conducted a radial velocity survey of a sample of 29 such targets to complement the astrometric data. This will allow enhanced orbital determinations and precise dynamical masses to be derived in a shorter timeframe than possible with astrometric monitoring alone, and allow for a more reliable isochronal analysis. Here we present radial velocity measurements for our sample over several epochs. We report the detection of the three-component spectroscopic multiple 2MASS J05301858-5358483, for which the C component is a new discovery, and forms a tight pair with the B component. Originally identified as a YMG member, we find that this system is a likely old field interloper, whose high chromospheric activity level is caused by tidal spin-up of the tight BC pair. Two other triple systems with a tight pair exist in the sample, but for the rest of the targets we find that additional tidally synchronized companions are highly unlikely, providing further evidence that their high chromospheric activity levels are generally signatures of youth.