Accurate masses of very low mass stars: III 16 new or improved masses

TL;DR

This paper reports precise mass measurements for 16 very low mass stars using adaptive optics and radial velocities, improving the accuracy of stellar parameters crucial for understanding stellar evolution.

Contribution

It provides new or improved orbital data and mass measurements for 7 low-mass star systems, enhancing the accuracy of stellar mass determinations.

Findings

Masses with 0.2% to 5% accuracy for 16 stars.

Improved orbital parameters for 7 systems.

Data supports refined Mass-Luminosity relations.

Abstract

We have obtained adaptive optics images and accurate radial velocities for 7 very low mass systems, in the course of a long term effort to determine accurate masses for very low mass stars (M<0.6 Solar Mass). We use the new data, together with measurements from the litterature for some stars, to determine new or improved orbits for these 7 systems. They provide masses for 16 very low mass stars with accuracies that range between 0.2% and 5%, and in some cases a very accurate distance as well. This information is used in a companion paper to discuss the Mass-Luminosity relation for the V, J, H and K photometric bands.