The Factor: Determining the Strength of Activity in Low Mass Dwarfs
Abstract
We describe a new, distance-independent method for calculating the magnetic activity strength in low mass dwarfs, LHα/Lbol. Using a well-observed sample of nearby stars and cool standards spanning spectral type M0.5 to L0, we compute ``'', the ratio between the continuum flux near H-alpha and the bolometric flux, fλ6560/fbol. This ratio may be multiplied by the measured equivalent width of the H-alpha emission line to yield LHα/Lbol. We provide values for all objects in our sample, as well as fits to as a function of color and average values by spectral type. This method was used by West et al.(2004) to examine trends in magnetic activity strength in low mass stars.
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