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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.02269 |
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| _version_ | 1866915650607251456 |
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| author | Iyer, Aishwarya R. Line, Michael R. Muirhead, Philip S. Fortney, Jonathan J. Faherty, Jacqueline K. |
| author_facet | Iyer, Aishwarya R. Line, Michael R. Muirhead, Philip S. Fortney, Jonathan J. Faherty, Jacqueline K. |
| contents | M-dwarfs are the most dominant stars in the Galaxy. Their interiors and atmospheres exhibit complex processes including dust condensation, convective feedback, and magnetic activity-driven heterogeneity. Standard stellar characterization methods often struggle to capture these coupled effects. Part I of this series introduced SPHINX I, a validated grid of self-consistent radiative-convective model atmospheres and spectra for M-dwarfs with up-to-date molecular opacities suitable for early-to-mid M-dwarfs. Here, we present SPHINX II, which extends the model grid to cover mid-to-late type M-dwarfs, including both gray and physically motivated condensate cloud treatments and shorter convective mixing lengths. We validate SPHINX II using 39 benchmark FGK+M binary systems observed with SpeX IRTF (Mann et al. 2014) and apply it to 32 mid-to-late-type M-dwarfs from the SpeX Prism Library. SPHINX II yields improved fits that are statistically consistent with empirical benchmarks, achieving precisions of 0.078 dex in metallicity and 0.13 dex in C/O. Across the model grid, condensate cloud mass peaks between 2100-2400 K, decreasing sharply toward both cooler and hotter temperatures. We find the onset of the cloud-free regime around 2900 K, and below 2100 K, we see formation of deep/buried clouds. As a case study, we also model Trappist-1 and show that even mass-limited silicate grains subtly modify its emergent spectrum, suppressing near-infrared flux and reddening the mid-infrared slope via shallow cloud formation near 1e-2 bar. In sum, SPHINX II provides an improved framework for constraining the fundamental properties of mid-to-late M-dwarfs. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_02269 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The SPHINX M dwarf Spectral Grid. II. New Model Atmospheres and Spectra to Derive Fundamental Properties of mid-to-late type M-dwarfs Iyer, Aishwarya R. Line, Michael R. Muirhead, Philip S. Fortney, Jonathan J. Faherty, Jacqueline K. Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Earth and Planetary Astrophysics M-dwarfs are the most dominant stars in the Galaxy. Their interiors and atmospheres exhibit complex processes including dust condensation, convective feedback, and magnetic activity-driven heterogeneity. Standard stellar characterization methods often struggle to capture these coupled effects. Part I of this series introduced SPHINX I, a validated grid of self-consistent radiative-convective model atmospheres and spectra for M-dwarfs with up-to-date molecular opacities suitable for early-to-mid M-dwarfs. Here, we present SPHINX II, which extends the model grid to cover mid-to-late type M-dwarfs, including both gray and physically motivated condensate cloud treatments and shorter convective mixing lengths. We validate SPHINX II using 39 benchmark FGK+M binary systems observed with SpeX IRTF (Mann et al. 2014) and apply it to 32 mid-to-late-type M-dwarfs from the SpeX Prism Library. SPHINX II yields improved fits that are statistically consistent with empirical benchmarks, achieving precisions of 0.078 dex in metallicity and 0.13 dex in C/O. Across the model grid, condensate cloud mass peaks between 2100-2400 K, decreasing sharply toward both cooler and hotter temperatures. We find the onset of the cloud-free regime around 2900 K, and below 2100 K, we see formation of deep/buried clouds. As a case study, we also model Trappist-1 and show that even mass-limited silicate grains subtly modify its emergent spectrum, suppressing near-infrared flux and reddening the mid-infrared slope via shallow cloud formation near 1e-2 bar. In sum, SPHINX II provides an improved framework for constraining the fundamental properties of mid-to-late M-dwarfs. |
| title | The SPHINX M dwarf Spectral Grid. II. New Model Atmospheres and Spectra to Derive Fundamental Properties of mid-to-late type M-dwarfs |
| topic | Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.02269 |