Semi-analytical formulas for the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

Abstract

The absolute visual magnitude as function of the observed color (B-V), also named Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, can be described through five equations; that when calibrated stars are available means eight constants. The developed framework allows to deduce the remaining physical parameters, mass, radius and luminosity. This new technique is applied to the first 10 pc, the first 50 pc, the Hyades and to the determination of the distance of a cluster. The case of the white dwarfs is analyzed assuming the absence of calibrated data: our equation produces a smaller ?2 with respect to the standard color-magnitude calibration when applied to the Villanova Catalog of Spectroscopically Identified White Dwarfs. The theoretical basis of the formulas for the colors and the bolometric correction of the stars is clarified by a Taylor expansion in the temperature of the Planck distribution.