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Determining the precise ages of young (tens to a few hundred Myr) kinematic (‘moving’) groups is important for placing star, protoplanetary disc, and planet observations on an evolutionary timeline. The nearby ∼25 Myr-old β Pictoris Moving Group (BPMG) is an important benchmark for studying stars and planetary systems at the end of the primordial disc phase. Gaia DR3 astrometry and photometry, combined with ground-based observations and more sophisticated stellar models, permit a systematic re-evaluation of BPMG membership and age. We combined Gaia astrometry with previously published radial velocities to evaluate moving group membership in a Bayesian framework. To minimize the effect of unresolved stellar multiplicity on age estimates, we identified and excluded multistar systems using Gaia astrometry, ground-based adaptive optics imaging, and multi-epoch radial velocities, as well as literature identifications. We estimated age using isochrone and lithium-depletion-boundary fitting with models that account for the effect of magnetic activity and spots on young, rapidly rotating stars. We find that age estimates are highly model-dependent; Dartmouth magnetic models with ages of 23 ± 8 and 33$^{+9}_{-11}$ Myr provide best fits to the lithium depletion boundary and Gaia MG versus BP–RP colour–magnitude diagram, respectively, whereas a Dartmouth standard model with an age of 11$^{+4}_{-3}$ Myr provides a best fit to the 2-Micron All-Sky Survey-Gaia$M_{K_S}$ versus BP–RP colour–magnitude diagram.

 

Age is a stellar parameter that is both fundamental and difficult to determine. Among middle-aged M dwarfs, the most prolific hosts of close-in and detectable exoplanets, gyrochronology is the most promising method to assign ages, but requires calibration by rotation-temperature sequences (gyrochrones) in clusters of known ages. We curated a catalogue of 249 late K- and M-type (Teff = 3200–4200 K) exoplanet host stars with established rotation periods, and applied empirical, temperature-dependent rotation–age relations based on relevant published gyrochrones, including one derived from observations of the 4-Gyr-old open cluster M67. We estimated ages for 227 of these stars, and upper limits for eight others, excluding 14 which are too rapidly rotating or are otherwise outside the valid parameter range of our gyrochronology. We estimated uncertainties based on observed scatter in rotation periods in young clusters, error in the gyrochrones, and uncertainties in temperature and non-solar metallicity. For those stars with measured metallicities, we provide but do not incorporate a correction for the effects of deviation from solar-metallicity. The age distribution of our sample declines to near zero at 10 Gyr, the age of the Galactic disc, with the handful of outliers explainable by large uncertainties. Continued addition or extension of cluster rotation sequences to more thoroughly calibrate the gyrochronology in time and temperature space, more precise and robust measurement of rotation periods, and more accurate stellar parameter measurements will enable continued improvements in the age estimates of these important exoplanet host stars.

 

Abstract Quasi-periodic (1.5 days) dimming (by circumstellar dust) of the 135 Myr-old AB Doradus moving group member HD 240779 was detected in photometry by TESS in late 2018. Similar observations two years later show no such signal, and ground-based photometry indicate that the signal was absent in late 2019. This suggests that the source of the dust did not survive long after 2018, e.g., it was a disrupted planetesimal, or that dust production by the body is episodic, analogous to the “evaporating” planets detected by Kepler. 

Binary stars are ubiquitous; the majority of solar-type stars exist in binaries. Exoplanet occurrence rate is suppressed in binaries, but some multiples do still host planets. Binaries cause observational biases in planet parameters, with undetected multiplicity causing transiting planets to appear smaller than they truly are. We have analyzed the properties of a sample of 119 planet-host binary stars from the Kepler mission to study the underlying population of planets in binaries that fall in and around the radius valley, which is a demographic feature in period–radius space that marks the transition from predominantly rocky to predominantly gaseous planets. We found no statistically significant evidence for a radius gap for our sample of 122 planets in binaries when assuming that the primary stars are the planet hosts, with a low probability (p< 0.05) of the binary planet sample radius distribution being consistent with the single-star population of small planets via an Anderson–Darling test. These results reveal demographic differences in the planet size distribution between planets in binary and single stars for the first time, showing that stellar multiplicity may fundamentally alter the planet formation process. A larger sample and further assessment of circumprimary versus circumsecondary transits is needed to either validate this nondetection or explore other scenarios, such as a radius gap with a location that is dependent on binary separation.

 

Current spectroscopic surveys are producing large catalogs of chemical abundances for stars of all types. The yttrium-to-magnesium ratio, [Y/Mg], has emerged as a candidate age indicator for solar twins in the local stellar neighborhood. However, it is unclear whether it is a viable age diagnostic for more diverse stellar types, so we investigate [Y/Mg] as an age indicator for the FGK-type planet host stars observed by Kepler. We find that the [Y/Mg] “Clock” is most precise for solar twins, with a [Y/Mg]/age slope ofm= −0.0370 ±0.0071 dex Gyr⁻¹andσ_Age= 2.6 Gyr. We attribute the lower precision compared to literature results to nonsolar twins contaminating our solar twin sample and recommend a 1.5 Gyr systematic uncertainty for stellar ages derived with any [Y/Mg]–Age relation. We also analyzed the [Y/Mg] Clock as a function ofT_eff,$\log g$, and metallicity individually and find no strong trends, but we compute statistically significant [Y/Mg]–Age relations for subsamples defined by ranges inT_eff,$\log g$, and metallicity. Finally, we compare [Y/Mg] and rotation ages and find statistically similar trends as for isochrone ages, although we find that rotation ages perform better for GK dwarfs while isochrones perform better for FG subgiants. We conclude that the [Y/Mg] Clock is most precise for solar twins and analogs but is also a useful age diagnostic for FGK stars.

 

We report a search for excess absorption in the 1083.2 nm line of ortho (triplet) helium during transits of TOI-1807b and TOI-2076b, 1.25 and 2.5-R⊕ planets on 0.55- and 10.4-d orbits around nearby ∼200 Myr-old K dwarf stars. We limit the equivalent width of any transit-associated absorption to <4 and <8 mÅ, respectively. We limit the escape of solar-composition atmospheres from TOI-1807b and TOI-2076b to ≲1 and ≲0.1M⊕Gyr−1, respectively, depending on wind temperature. The absence of a H/He signature for TOI-1807b is consistent with a measurement of mass indicating a rocky body and the prediction by a hydrodynamic model that any H-dominated atmosphere would be unstable and already have been lost. Differential spectra obtained during the transit of TOI-2076b contain a He i-like feature, but this closely resembles the stellar line and extends beyond the transit interval. Until additional transits are observed, we suspect this to be the result of variation in the stellar He i line produced by rotation of active regions and/or flaring on the young, active host star. Non-detection of escape could mean that TOI-2076b is more massive than expected, the star is less EUV luminous, the models overestimate escape, or the planet has a H/He-poor atmosphere that is primarily molecules such as H2O. Photochemical models of planetary winds predict a semimajor axis at which triplet He i observations are most sensitive to mass-loss: TOI-2076b orbits near this optimum. Future surveys could use a distance criterion to increase the yield of detections.

 

ABSTRACT Studies of T Tauri discs inform planet formation theory; observations of variability due to occultation by circumstellar dust are a useful probe of unresolved, planet-forming inner discs, especially around faint M dwarf stars. We report observations of 2M0632, an M dwarf member of the Carina young moving group that was observed by Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite over two 1-yr intervals. The combined light curve contains >300 dimming events, each lasting a few hours, and as deep as 40 per cent (0.55 magnitudes). These stochastic events are correlated with a distinct, stable 1.86-d periodic signal that could be stellar rotation. Concurrent ground-based, multiband photometry show reddening consistent with interstellar medium-like dust. The star’s excess emission in the infrared and emission lines in optical and infrared spectra reveal a T Tauri-like accretion disc around the star. We confirm membership of 2M0632 in the Carina group by a Bayesian analysis of its Galactic space motion and position. We combine stellar evolution models with Gaia photometry and constraints on Teff, luminosity, and the absence of detectable lithium in the photosphere to constrain the age of the group and 2M0632 to 40–60 Myr, consistent with earlier estimates. 2M0632 joins a handful of long-lived discs which challenge the canon that disc lifetimes are ≲10 Myr. All known examples surround M dwarfs, suggesting that lower X-ray/ultraviolet irradiation and slower photoevaporation by these stars can dramatically affect disc evolution. The multiplanet systems spawned by long-lived discs probably experienced significant orbital damping and migration into close-in, resonant orbits, and perhaps represented by the TRAPPIST-1 system. 

We present stellar rotation periods for late K- and early M-dwarf members of the 4 Gyr old open cluster M67 as calibrators for gyrochronology and tests of stellar spin-down models. Using Gaia EDR3 astrometry for cluster membership and Pan-STARRS (PS1) photometry for binary identification, we build this set of rotation periods from a campaign of monitoring M67 with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope’s MegaPrime wide-field imager. We identify 1807 members of M67, of which 294 are candidate single members with significant rotation period detections. Moreover, we fit a polynomial to the period versus color-derived effective temperature sequence observed in our data. We find that the rotation of very cool dwarfs can be explained by simple solid-body spin-down between 2.7 and 4 Gyr. We compare this rotational sequence to the predictions of gyrochronological models and find that the best match is Skumanich-like spin-down,P_rot∝t^0.62, applied to the sequence of Ruprecht 147. This suggests that, for spectral types K7–M0 with near-solar metallicity, once a star resumes spinning down, a simple Skumanich-like relation is sufficient to describe their rotation evolution, at least through the age of M67. Additionally, for stars in the range M1–M3, our data show that spin-down must have resumed prior to the age of M67, in conflict with the predictions of the latest spin-down models.

 

We present the characterization of the low-gravity M6 dwarf 2MASS J06195260-2903592, previously identified as an unusual field object based on its strong IR excess and variable near-IR spectrum. Multiple epochs of low-resolution (R≈ 150) near-IR spectra show large-amplitude (≈0.1–0.5 mag) continuum variations on timescales of days to 12 yr, unlike the small-amplitude variability typical for field ultracool dwarfs. The variations between epochs are well-modeled as changes in the relative extinction (ΔA_V≈ 2 mag). Similarly, Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 optical photometry varies on timescales as long as 11 yr (and possibly as short as an hour) and implies comparableA_Vchanges. Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mid-IR light curves also suggest changes on 6 month timescales, with amplitudes consistent with the optical/near-IR extinction variations. However, near-IR spectra, near-IR photometry, and optical photometry obtained in the past year indicate that the source can also be stable on hourly and monthly timescales. From comparison to objects of similar spectral type, the total extinction of 2MASS J0619-2903 seems to beA_V≈ 4–6 mag, with perhaps epochs of lower extinction. Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) finds that 2MASS J0619-2903 has a wide-separation (1.′2 = 10,450 au) stellar companion, with an isochronal age of${31}_{-10}^{+22}$Myr and a mass of${0.30}_{-0.03}^{+0.04}$M_☉. Adopting this companion’s age and EDR3 distance (145.2 ± 0.6 pc), we estimate a mass of 0.11–0.17M_☉for 2MASS J0619-2903. Altogether, 2MASS J0619-2903 appears to possess an unusually long-lived primordial circumstellar disk, perhaps making it a more obscured analog to the “Peter Pan” disks found around a few M dwarfs in nearby young moving groups.