Jones, Hugh

Contact Email: hraj@astro.livjm.ac.uk
Institute: Astrophysics Research Institute,
Liverpool John Moores University
First Coauthor: Yakiv Pavlenko
Institute: Main Astronomical Observatory of Ukraine
Second Coauthor: Serena Viti
Institute: University College London
Research URL:http://www.astro.livjm.ac.uk
Subject Area: Stellar Atmospheres, Circumstellar Material
Waveband: Infrared
Technique: Spectroscopy
Presentation:
Title: Spectral Analysis of water vapour in cool stars
Abstract: We have used the short wavelength spectrometer on the Infrared Space Observatory at four wavelength settings to cover the 2.5-3.0 micron region for a range of M stars. The observations show a good match with previous ground-based observations and a reasonable match with synthetic spectra using the PS water line list though not with other line lists. We used a least-squared minimisation technique to systematically find best fit parameters for the sample of stars. The temperatures that we found indicate a relatively hot temperature scale for M dwarfs. We consider that this could be a consequence of problems with the PS linelist which leads to synthetic spectra predicting water bands which are too strong for a given temperature. Such problems need to be solved in the next generation of water vapour line lists which will extend the calculation of water vapour to higher energy levels with the good convergence necessary for reliable modelling of hot water vapour. Then water bands can assume their natural role as the primary tool for the spectroscopic analysis of M stars.