Exploring Optical Cool Dwarf Chemistry with Both Data-Driven and Physical Models

by Dr Adam Rains (Uppsala University)

Friday 20 Oct 2023, 10:30 → 11:30 Europe/Stockholm

FC61 (AlbaNova Main Building)

Detailed chemical studies of Solar-type stars have long been routine in stellar astrophysics, making possible studies in Galactic chemodynamics and exoplanet demographics. However, similar understanding of the chemistry of M and late-K dwarfs---the most common stars in the Galaxy and most likely to host planets---has been greatly hampered both observationally and theoretically by the complex molecular chemistry of their atmospheres. During this talk I will discuss the importance of well-constrained cool dwarf benchmark stars, how we can take advantage of trends in Galactic chemodynamics as applied to cool dwarf chemistry, and how these both relate to my recent work exploring the the spectra and chemistry of these stars at optical wavelengths using both data-driven and physical models. In particular, I demonstrate the ability of a data-driven Cannon model to successfully recover [Fe/H] and [Ti/Fe] from low-medium resolution optical spectra, investigate the sensitivity of MARCS model spectra to a broader set of chemical abundances to inform future work, and provide insight into the reliability of MARCS models for cool dwarf stars.