M-dwarf expertise

Jessica Birky (UCSD) and I met with Wolfgang Brandner (MPIA) and Derek Homeier (MPIA) to discuss M-dwarf spectra. Homeier has just finished a study of a few dozen M-dwarfs in APOGEE with the PHOENIX models. We are going to find out whether this set of stars will constitute an adequate training set for The Cannon. It is very weighted to a small temperature range, so it might not have enough coverage for us. We learned a huge amount in our meeting, like whether rotation might affect us (or be detectable), whether binaries might be common in our sample, and whether we might be able to use photometry (or photometry plus astrometry) to get effective temperatures. The conversation was very wide ranging and I learned a huge amount.