How could Precise Stellar Radial Velocities Help to Understand Field and Cluster Member Flare Stars?
Authors: Szécsényi-Nagy G. 
Published: July 2016

Until recently the problem of collecting high resolution spectra of flare stars has been intractable since the techniques available have not been sensitive enough to reach these extremely faint objects. Although many of the nearest stars (and practically all of the nearby variable stars) belong to this class, even the ones nearest to our sun are fainter than magnitude 8 or 10. In determining the radial velocity of nearby flare stars astronomers accepted the available accuracy of ~ 1 km/s. This may be adequate for the classification of the objects into age classes (according their kinematic properties).

The other considerable group of flare stars is taken traditionally as a natural by-product of star formation processes which go on in clusters and associations. Until recently there has not been any serious attack against the widely popular hypothesis that all but a few of the flare stars discovered in the fields of stellar aggregates (their number exceeds that of the solar neighborhood flare stars) are physical members of the systems. The discovery (Szécsényi-Nagy et al. 1997, 1998) that hundreds of flare stars found in the field of M45 may not be cluster members may change the situation. Most flare stars observed there are very faint and consequently they were missing from previously published lists of Pleiades members. For one third of the objects only reliable membership probabilities have been determined, and many of them are listed as probable non-members (Haro, Chavira, & Gonzalez 1982). However, a recently published photographic proper motion survey of the Pleiades’ field (Souchay & Schilbach 1995) provided reliable membership probability values for many stars of extremely low luminosity too. Based on that about 85% of the well-documented flare stars can be – and have been – identified. Our results (Szécsényi-Nagy et al. 1997) undoubtedly prove that a substantial fraction (~ 40%) of the so called Pleiades flare stars are (more or less) definitely non-members. Since all of these new cluster membership probability calculations have been based on stellar proper motion values, in order to be able to reach a final decision, we badly need some other independent data set for the very same stars. It is to be shown that precise stellar radial velocities, an unexploited – because almost unknown – parameter for flare stars, could solve the problem by supporting or disproving these faint objects’ cluster membership. Consequently the flare stars of these two kinds (which are accidentally mixed on the photographic plates) could be classified into different age groups and their evolutionary stages and tracks could be investigated more deeply.

Our intention is to persuade astronomers involved in stellar radial velocity business that developing and using a method of high precision stellar radial-velocity measurement for late dK/dM stars is not a waste of time but a really feasible job and that we can and will contribute to the success of it by identifying the best tartgets, taking part in the necessary observations and evaluating the data.