The empirical mass-luminosity relation for low mass stars

摘要

This work is devoted to improving empirical mass-luminosity relations (MLR) and mass-metallicity-luminosity relation (MMLR) for low mass stars. For these stars, observational data in the mass-luminosity plane or the mass-metallicity-luminosity space subject to non-negligible errors in all coordinates with different dimensions. Thus a reasonable weight assigning scheme is needed for obtaining more reliable results. Such a scheme is developed, with which each data point can have its own due contribution. Previous studies have shown that there exists a plateau feature in the MLR. Taking into account the constraints from the observational luminosity function, we find by fitting the observational data using our weight assigning scheme that the plateau spans from 0.28M(circle dot) to 0.50M(circle dot). Three-piecewise continuous improved MLRs in K, J, H and V bands, respectively, are obtained. The visual MMLR is also improved based on our K band MLR and the available observational metallicity data.