We present an analysis of the intrinsic colors and temperatures of 5-30 Myr old pre-main sequence (pre-MS) stars using the F0 through M9 type members of nearby, negligibly reddened groups: η Cha cluster, TW Hydra Association, β Pic Moving Group, and Tucana-Horologium Association. To check the consistency of spectral types from the literature, we estimate new spectral types for 52 nearby pre-MS stars with spectral types F3 through M4 using optical spectra taken with the SMARTS 1.5m telescope. Combining these new types with published spectral types, and photometry from the literature (Johnson-Cousins BV I C , 2MASS JHK S and WISE W 1, W 2, W 3, and W 4), we derive a new empirical spectral type-color sequence for 5-30 Myr old pre-MS stars. Colors for pre-MS stars match dwarf colors for some spectral types and colors, but for other spectral types and colors, deviations can exceed 0.3 mag. We estimate effective temperatures (T eff ) and bolometric corrections (BCs) for our pre-MS star sample through comparing their photometry to synthetic photometry generated using the BT-Settl grid of model atmosphere spectra. We derive a new T eff and BC scale for pre-MS stars, which should be a more appropriate match for T Tauri stars than often-adopted dwarf star scales. While our new T eff scale for pre-MS stars is within ≃100 K of dwarfs at a given spectral type for stars

While the strong anti-correlation between chromospheric activity and age has led to the common use of the Ca II H & K emission index (R ′ HK = L HK /L bol ) as an empirical age estimator for solar type dwarfs, existing activity-age relations produce implausible ages at both high and low activity levels. We have compiled R ′ HK data from the literature for young stellar clusters, richly populating for the first time the young end of the activity-age relation. Combining the cluster activity data with modern cluster age estimates, and analyzing the color-dependence of the chromospheric activity age index, we derive an improved activity-age calibration for F7-K2 dwarfs (0.5 < B-V < 0.9 mag). We also present a more fundamentally motivated activity-age calibration that relies on conversion of R ′ HK values through the Rossby number to rotation periods, and then makes use of improved gyrochronology relations. We demonstrate that our new activity-age calibration has typical age precision of ∼0.2 dex for normal solartype dwarfs aged between the Hyades and the Sun (∼0.6-4.5 Gyr). Inferring ages through activity-rotation-age relations accounts for some color-dependent effects, and systematically improves the age estimates (albeit only slightly). We demonstrate that coronal activity as measured through the fractional X-ray luminosity (R X = L X /L bol ) has nearly the same age-and rotation-inferring capability -2as chromospheric activity measured through R ′ HK . As a first application of our calibrations, we provide new activity-derived age estimates for the nearest 100 solar-type field dwarfs (d < 15 pc).

We present a sample of 824 solar and late-type stars with X-ray luminosities and rotation periods. This is used to study the relationship between rotation and stellar activity and derive a new estimate of the convective turnover time. From an unbiased subset of this sample the power law slope of the unsaturated regime, L X /L bol ∝ Ro β , is fit as β = −2.70 ± 0.13. This is inconsistent with the canonical β = −2 slope to a confidence of 5σ, and argues for an additional term in the dynamo number equation. From a simple scaling analysis this implies ∆Ω/Ω ∝ Ω 0.7 , i.e. the differential rotation of solar-type stars gradually declines as they spin down. Super-saturation is observed for the fastest rotators in our sample and its parametric dependencies are explored. Significant correlations are found with both the corotation radius and the excess polar updraft, the latter theory providing a stronger dependence and being supported by other observations. We estimate mass-dependent empirical thresholds for saturation and super-saturation and map out three regimes of coronal emission. Late F-type stars are shown never to pass through the saturated regime, passing straight from super-saturated to unsaturated X-ray emission. The theoretical threshold for coronal stripping is shown to be significantly different from the empirical saturation threshold (Ro < 0.13), suggesting it is not responsible. Instead we suggest that a different dynamo configuration is at work in stars with saturated coronal emission. This is supported by a correlation between the empirical saturation threshold and the time when stars transition between convective and interface sequences in rotational spin-down models.