Recently a large number of rotation period measurements of low mass stars oftype M have become available. Surprisingly, one finds that in addition to thewell-known rapid rotators a population of very slowly rotating M dwarfs withrotation periods exceeding 100 days. These slow rotators pose a challenge forthe usual rotation- activity paradigm, since about a third of these stars havebeen detected in the ROSAT all-sky survey, even though the RASS data did notprobe significantly deeper than the saturation limit for stars of masses below0.6 MSun. We thus propose XMM follow-up for a complete sample of nearby,undetected low mass stars with long rotation periods down to a sensitivity limitof L_X/L_bol virgul 2 10**-5 to study the relation between X-ray activity and rotation in these stars.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2020-09-23T22:15:04Z/2020-11-23T21:18:45Z
Version
18.02_20200221_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Prof Juergen Schmitt, 2021, 'The rotation-activity connection for low mass stars', 18.02_20200221_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.57780/esa-ion2nt7
