CARMENES input catalogue of M dwarfs. III.

To ensure an optimal use of the CARMENES guaranteed time observations, in this paper we investigate the correlation of activity and rotation for approximately 2200 M dwarfs, ranging in spectral type from M0.0 V to M9.0 V. We present new high-resolution spectroscopic observations with FEROS, CAFE, and HRS of approximately 500 M dwarfs.

For each new observation, we determined its radial velocity and measured its H{alpha} activity index and its rotation velocity. Additionally, we have multiple observations of many stars to investigate if there are any radial velocity variations due to multiplicity. The results of our survey confirm that early-M dwarfs are H{alpha} inactive with low rotational velocities and that late-M dwarfs are H{alpha} active with very high rotational velocities.