Dynamical masses across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

TL;DR

This paper uses Gaia data to measure stellar masses across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram through wide binary orbital analysis, providing independent constraints on stellar evolution and compact object occurrence.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method combining statistical inference and neural networks to determine stellar masses from Gaia wide binary data across the H-R diagram.

Findings

Mass measurements for stars from 0.1 to 2 M$_\ m\odot$

Mass estimates for unresolved binaries and triples

Identification of interesting mass behaviors in specific H-R regions

Abstract

We infer the dynamical masses of stars across the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram using wide binaries from the Gaia survey. Gaia's high-precision astrometry measures the wide binaries' orbital motion, which contains the mass information. Using wide binaries as the training sample, we measure the mass of stars across the two-dimensional H-R diagram using the combination of statistical inference and neural networks. Our results provide the dynamical mass measurements for main-sequence stars from 0.1 to 2 M$_\odot$, unresolved binaries and unresolved triples on the main sequence, and the mean masses of giants and white dwarfs. Two regions in the H-R diagram show interesting behaviors in mass, where one of them is pre-main-sequence stars, and the other one may be related to close compact object companions like M dwarf-white dwarf binaries. These mass measurements depend solely on Newtonian dynamics, providing independent constraints on stellar evolutionary models and the occurrence rate of compact objects.