Line-depth ratios as indicators of effective temperature and surface gravity

TL;DR

This paper introduces empirical line-depth ratio relations for estimating stellar effective temperature and surface gravity from high-resolution spectra, simplifying the process without complex modeling.

Contribution

The study develops new empirical relations using specific line pairs to accurately determine Teff and log g, reducing reliance on detailed numerical models.

Findings

Achieves ~50 K accuracy for Teff estimation.

Achieves ~0.2 dex accuracy for log g estimation.

Requires calibration with stars of known parameters.

Abstract

The analysis of stellar spectra depends upon the effective temperature (Teff) and the surface gravity (log g). However, the estimation of log g with high accuracy is challenging. A classical approach is to search for log g that satisfies the ionization balance, i.e., the abundances from neutral and ionized metallic lines being in agreement. We propose a method of using empirical relations between Teff, log g and line-depth ratios, for which we meticulously select pairs of FeI and FeII lines and pairs of CaI and CaII lines. Based on YJ-band (0.97-1.32 micron) high-resolution spectra of 42 FGK stars (dwarfs to supergiants), we selected five FeI-FeII and four CaI-CaII line pairs together with 13 FeI-FeI pairs (for estimating Teff, and derived the empirical relations. Using such relations does not require complex numerical models and tools for estimating chemical abundances. The relations we present allows one to derive Teff and log g with a precision of around 50 K and 0.2 dex, respectively, but the achievable accuracy depends on the accuracy of the calibrators' stellar parameters. It is essential to revise the calibration by observing stars with accurate stellar parameters available, e.g., stars with asteroseismic log g and stars analyzed with complete stellar models taking into account the effects of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium and convection. In addition, the calibrators we used have a limited metallicity range, [Fe/H] between -0.2 and +0.2 dex, and our relations need to be tested and re-calibrated based on a calibrating dataset for a wider range of metallicity.