Additional TWA Members? : Spectroscopic verification of kinematically selected TWA candidates

TL;DR

This study spectroscopically verifies candidate members of the TW Hydrae Association, confirming only a few as true members and emphasizing the importance of spectroscopy over kinematics alone for identifying group members.

Contribution

It provides the first spectroscopic verification of 23 TWA candidates, refining membership and challenging previous assumptions about the group's expansion.

Findings

Only three new members confirmed spectroscopically

Most candidates beyond 100 pc are not members

Spectroscopy is essential for accurate membership identification

Abstract

We present spectroscopic measurements of the 23 new candidate members of the TW Hydrae Association from Makarov & Fabricius (2000). Based on Halpha and Li 6708 A strengths together with location on a color-magnitude diagram for Hipparcos TWA candidates, we found only three possible new members (TYC 7760-0835-1, TYC 8238-1462-1, and TYC 8234-2856-1) in addition to the already known member, TWA 19. This eliminated most of the candidates more distant than 100 pc. Three Tycho stars, almost certainly members of the Lower Centaurus Crux association, are the most distant members of the TWA. A claim of isotropic expansion of TWA has to be re-evaluated based on our new results. Generally, one cannot identify new members of a diffuse nearby stellar group based solely on kinematic data. To eliminate interlopers with similar kinematics, spectroscopic verification is essential.