Rotation Periods of Nine ROSAT Selected Solar-Type Stars

Abstract

We monitored 16 X-ray selected young solar-type stars for light variation and found appreciable periodic light variability with amplitudes of a few hundredths of a magnitude in nine of the objects. Using the method of Phase Dispersion Minimization (PDM) and Fourier analysis (software PERIOD04), the rotation periods of these stars were determined from the photometric data. The rotation periods of all nine stars are shorter than about 3 days. It is suggested that, as with the Pleiades cluster, small amplitude light variations are quite common among young solar-type stars with rotation periods around 3 days or less. This gives further evidence for the spin up of solar-type stars predicted by models of angular momentum evolution of pre-main sequence stars.