M dwarfs have enormous potential for our understanding of structure and formation on both Galactic and exoplanetary scales through their properties and compositions. However, current atmosphere models have limited ability to reproduce spectral features in stars at the coolest temperatures (T eff < 4200 K) and to fully exploit the information content of current and upcoming large-scale spectroscopic surveys. Here we present a catalog of spectroscopic temperatures, metallicities, and spectral types for 5875 M dwarfs in the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) and Gaia-DR2 surveys using The Cannon: a flexible, data-driven spectral-modeling and parameterinference framework demonstrated to estimate stellar-parameter labels (T eff , log g, [Fe/H], and detailed abundances) to high precision. Using a training sample of 87 M dwarfs with optically derived labels spanning 2860 < T eff < 4130 K calibrated with bolometric temperatures, and −0.5 < [Fe/H] < 0.5 dex calibrated with FGK binary metallicities, we train a two-parameter model with predictive accuracy (in cross-validation) to 77 K and 0.09 dex respectively. We also train a one-dimensional spectral classification model using 51 M dwarfs with Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical spectral types ranging from M0 to M6, to predictive accuracy of 0.7 types. We find Cannon temperatures to be in agreement to within 60 K compared to a subsample of 1702 sources with color-derived temperatures, and Cannon metallicities to be in agreement to within 0.08 dex metallicity compared to a subsample of 15 FGK+M or M+M binaries. Finally, our comparison between Cannon and APOGEE pipeline (ASPCAP DR14) labels finds that ASPCAP is systematically biased toward reporting higher temperatures and lower metallicities for M dwarfs.

We report multiepoch radial velocities, rotational velocities, and atmospheric parameters for 37 T-type brown dwarfs observed with Keck/NIRSPEC. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo forward-modeling method, we achieve median precisions of 0.5 and 0.9 km s−1 for radial and rotational velocities, respectively. All of the T dwarfs in our sample are thin-disk brown dwarfs. We confirm previously reported moving group associations for four T dwarfs. However, the lack of spectral indicators of youth in two of these sources suggests that these are chance alignments. We confirm two previously unresolved binary candidates, the T0+T4.5 2MASS J11061197+2754225 and the L7+T3.5 2MASS J21265916+7617440, with orbital periods of 4 and 12 yr, respectively. We find a kinematic age of 3.5 ± 0.3 Gyr for local T dwarfs, consistent with nearby late M dwarfs (4.1 ± 0.3 Gyr). Removal of thick-disk L dwarfs in the local ultracool dwarf sample gives a similar age for L dwarfs (4.2 ± 0.3 Gyr), largely resolving the local L dwarf age anomaly. The kinematic ages of local late M, L, and T dwarfs can be accurately reproduced with population simulations incorporating standard assumptions of the mass function, star formation rate, and brown dwarf evolutionary models. A kinematic dispersion break is found at the L4–L6 subtypes, likely reflecting the terminus of the stellar main sequence. We provide a compilation of precise radial velocities for 172 late M, L, and T dwarfs within ∼20 pc of the Sun.

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