Paper detail

Cool Young Stars in the Northern Hemisphere: Beta Pictoris and AB Doradus Moving Group Candidates

As part of our continuing effort to identify new, low-mass members of nearby, young moving groups (NYMGs), we present a list of young, low-mass candidates in the northern hemisphere. We used our proven proper motion selection procedure and ROSAT-X-ray and GALEX-UV activity indicators to identify 204 young stars as candidate members of the Beta Pictoris and AB Doradus NYMGs. Definitive membership assignment of a given candidate will require a measurement of its radial velocity and distance. We present a simple system of indices to characterize the young candidates and help prioritize follow up observations. New group members identified in this candidate list will be high priority targets for: 1) exoplanet direct imaging searches, 2) the study of post-T-Tauri astrophysics, 3) understanding recent local star formation, and 4) the study of local galactic kinematics. Information available now allows us to identify 8 likely new members in the list. Two of these, a late-K and an early-M dwarf, we find to be likely members of the Beta Pic group. The other six stars are likely members of the AB Dor moving group. These include an M dwarf triple system, and three very cool objects that may be young brown dwarfs, making them the lowest-mass, isolated objects proposed in the AB Dor moving group to date.