Dwarfs & giants surface brightness-colour relations

We then apply additional criteria on the photometric measurements used to build the SBCRs, together with stellar characteristics diagnostics. We build SBCRs for F5/K7-II/III, F5/K7-IV/V, M-II/III and M-V stars, with respective RMS of {sigma}_FV_=0.0022mag, {sigma}_FV_ =0.0044mag, {sigma}_FV_=0.0046mag, and {sigma}_FV_=0.0038mag. This results in a precision on the angular diameter of 1.0%, 2.0%, 2.1% and 1.7%, respectively.

These relations cover a large V-K colour range of magnitude, from 1 to 7.5. Our work demonstrates that SBCRs are significantly dependent on the spectral type and the luminosity class of the star. Through a new set of interferometric measurements, we demonstrate the critical importance of the selection criteria proposed for the calibration of SBCR.

Finally, using the Gaia photometry for our samples, we obtain (G-K) SBCRs with a precision on the angular diameter between 1.1% and 2.4%. By adopting a refined and homogeneous methodology we show that the spectral type and the class of the star should be considered when applying a SBCR. This is particularly important in the context of PLATO.