Calibrating M dwarf metallicities using molecular indices

We report progress in the calibration of a method to determine cool dwarf star metallicities using molecular band strength indices. The molecular band index to metallicity relation can be calibrated using chemical abundances calculated from atomic- line equivalent width measurements in high- resolution spectra. Building on previous work, we have measured Fe and Ti abundances in 32 additional M and K dwarf stars to extend the range of temperature and metallicity covered. A test of our analysis method using warm star - cool star binaries shows we can calculate reliable abundances for stars warmer than 3500 K. We have used abundance measurements for warmer binary or cluster companions to estimate abundances in six additional cool dwarfs. Adding stars measured in our previous work and others from the literature provides 76 stars with Fe abundance and CaH2 and TiO5 index measurements. The CaH2 molecular index is directly correlated with temperature. TiO5 depends on temperature and metallicity. Metallicity can be estimated to within +/- 0.3 dex within the bounds of our calibration, which extends from roughly to [Fe/H] = +0.05 to -1.0, with a limited extension to -1.5.