ANGULAR DIAMETERS AND EFFECTIVE TEMPERATURES OF 25 K GIANT STARS FROM THE CHARA ARRAY

Using Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy Array interferometer, we measured angular diameters for 25 giant stars, six of which host exoplanets. The combination of these measurements and Hipparcos parallaxes produces physical linear radii for the sample. Except for two outliers, our values match angular diameters and physical radii estimated using photometric methods to within the associated errors with the advantage that our uncertainties are significantly lower. We also calculated the effective temperatures for the stars using the newly measured diameters. Our values do not match those derived from spectroscopic observations as well, perhaps due to the inherent properties of the methods used or because of a missing source of extinction in the stellar models that would affect the spectroscopic temperatures.