2010/12/08 by John J. Bochanski, Bochanski, John J.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1012.1856
openalex publication_date 2010/12/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Modern sky surveys, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Two-Micron\nAll Sky Survey, have revolutionized the study of low-mass stars. With millions\nof photometric and spectroscopic observations, intrinsic stellar properties can\nbe studied with unprecedented statistical significance. Low-mass stars dominate\nthe local Milky Way and are ideal tracers of the Galactic potential and the\nthin and thick disks. Recent efforts, driven by SDSS observations, have sought\nto place the local low-mass stellar population in a broader Galactic context. I\nhighlight a recent measurement of the luminosity and mass functions of M\ndwarfs, using a new technique optimized for large surveys. Starting with SDSS\nphotometry, the field luminosity function and local Galactic structure are\nmeasured simultaneously. The sample size used to estimate the LF is nearly\nthree orders of magnitude larger than any previous study, offering a definitive\nmeasurement of this quantity. The observed LF is transformed into a mass\nfunction and compared to previous studies. Ongoing investigations employing M\ndwarfs as tracers of Galactic kinematics are also discussed. SDSS spectroscopy\nhas produced databases containing tens of thousands of low-mass stars, forming\na powerful probe of the kinematic structure of the Milky Way. SDSS\nspectroscopic studies are complemented by large proper motion surveys, which\nhave uncovered thousands of common proper motion binaries containing low-mass\nstars. Additionally, the SDSS spectroscopic data explore the intrinsic\nproperties of M dwarfs, including metallicity and magnetic activity. The\nhighlighted projects demonstrate the advantages and problems with using large\ndata sets and will pave the way for studies with next-generation surveys, such\nas PanSTARRS and LSST.\n