HARPS and X-shooter spectra of Southern M dwarfs

We used the MCAL technique to derive the effective temperature Teff, metallicity [Fe/H], and activity index i_a_(H_alpha_) of 420 M stars using HARPS spectra. The effective temperature Teff, surface gravity logg, metallicity [Fe/H], and projected rotational velocity V_rot_sini of 153 M0-M6 dwarfs were determined by fitting the observed intermediate-resolution spectra from the VIS arm of VLT/X-shooter with a grid of BT-Settl stellar atmosphere models.

We estimated the typical uncertainties of the fit with X-shooter spectra by varying region-to-region results by {sigma}T_eff_~50K, {sigma}logg~0.2, and {sigma}[Fe/H]~0.2dex. Photometric verification of Teff for the 295 stars from the HARPS sample and the 61 stars from the X-shooter sample is also provided. We compared our results from different methods to estimate absolute uncertainty in determining the physical properties of M dwarfs.