The Red Dwarf Star Population in the Galaxy

Abstract

Red dwarf stars in the Galaxy occur in three forms: as flare stars, T Tau stars and red dwarf stars of constant brightness. Haro (1957) suggested that all these stars present regular evolutionary stages of red dwarf stars.The space distribution of UV Cet flare stars in the solar vicinity indicates that these low luminosity stars belong to the disk population of the Galaxy. Therefore one can suppose that all red dwarf stars have a space distribution which is similar to that of the flare stars (Mirzoyan et al. 1988a). Only a small part of them is found in star clusters and associations. The T Tau stars are an exception: because of their very short lifetime, all of them are found in stellar associations.The space distribution of red dwarf stars is determined by the fact that all of them are formed in star clusters and associations and are finally lost from their stellar systems and merge into the general galactic field (Mirzoyan 1995).