Gaia-based Isochronal, Kinematic, and Spatial Analysis of the $\epsilon$ Cha Association

TL;DR

This study uses Gaia DR2 data to refine the membership, distance, age, and properties of the epsilon Chamaeleontis association, confirming it as a very young nearby stellar group with new members and binary candidates.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive Gaia-based re-evaluation of epsilon Cha's membership, distance, age, and multiplicity, including the discovery of new members and binary candidates.

Findings

Confirmed 36 bona fide members of epsilon Cha.

Determined the group's mean distance as 101.0±4.6 pc.

Estimated the group's age as 5^{+3}_{-2} Myr.

Abstract

The precise parallax, proper motion, and photometric measurements contained in Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) offer the opportunity to re-examine the membership and ages of Nearby Young Moving Groups (NYMGs), i.e., loose groups of stars of age $\lesssim100$ Myr in the solar vicinity. Here, we analyze the available DR2 data for members and candidate members of the $\epsilon$ Cha Association ($\epsilon$CA) which, at an estimated age of $\sim$3--5 Myr, has previously been identified as among the youngest NYMGs. The several dozen confirmed members of $\epsilon$CA include MP Mus and T Cha, two of the nearest stars of roughly solar mass that are known to host primordial protoplanetary disks, and the Herbig Ae/Be star HD 104237A. We have used Gaia DR2 data to ascertain the Galactic positions and kinematics and color-magnitude diagram positions of $\epsilon$CA members and candidates, so as to reassess their membership status and thereby refine estimates of the distance, age, multiplicity, and disk fraction of the group. Our analysis yields 36 \textit{bona fide} $\epsilon$CA members, as well as 20 provisional members, including 3 new members identified here as comoving companions to previously known $\epsilon$CA stars. We determine a mean distance to $\epsilon$CA of 101.0$\pm$4.6 pc and confirm that, at an age of $5^{+3}_{-2}$ Myr, $\epsilon$CA represents the youngest stellar group within $\sim$100 pc of Earth. We identify several new photometric binary candidates, bringing the overall multiplicity fraction (MF) of $\epsilon$CA to 40\%, intermediate between the MFs of young T associations and the field.