Using the CIFIST grid of CO5BOLD 3D model atmospheres to study the effects of stellar granulation on photometric colours. II. The role of convection accross the H-R diagram

We studied the influence of convection on the spectral energy distributions, photometric magnitudes, and colour indices of different types of stars across the H-R diagram. The 3D hydrodynamical CO5BOLD, averaged <3D>, and 1D hydrostatic LHD model atmospheres were used to compute spectral energy distributions of stars on the main sequence (MS), main sequence turn-off (TO), subgiant branch (SGB), and red giant branch (RGB), in each case at two different effective temperatures and two metallicities, [M/H]=0.0 and -2.0. Using the obtained spectral energy distributions, we calculated photometric magnitudes and colour indices in the broad-band Johnson-Cousins $UBVRI$ and 2MASS $JHK_{\rm s}$, and the medium-band Str\"{o}mgren $uvby$ photometric systems. The 3D-1D differences in photometric magnitudes and colour indices are small in both photometric systems and typically do not exceed $\pm0.03$ mag. Only in the case of the coolest giants located on the upper RGB are the differences in the $U$ and $u$ bands able reach $\approx-0.2$ mag at [M/H]=0.0 and $\approx-0.1$ mag at [M/H]=-2.0. Generally, the 3D-1D differences are largest in the blue-UV part of the spectrum and decrease towards longer wavelengths. They are also sensitive to the effective temperature and are significantly smaller in hotter stars. Metallicity also plays a role and leads to slightly larger 3D-1D differences at [M/H]=0.0. All these patterns are caused by a complex interplay between the radiation field, opacities, and horizontal temperature fluctuations that occur due to convective motions in stellar atmospheres. Although small, the 3D-1D differences in the magnitudes and colour indices are nevertheless comparable to or larger than typical photometric uncertainties and may therefore cause non-negligible systematic differences in the estimated effective temperatures.
Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication by A&A