The mass-luminosity relation for stars of mass 1.0 to 0.08script M sign_⊙

Mass-luminosity relations determined at infrared wavelengths are presented for stars with masses 1.0 to 0.08script M sign_⊙. Using infrared speckle imaging techniques on a sample of nearby binaries, we have been able to concentrate on the lower main sequence (script M sign≤0.5script M sign_⊙), for which an accurate mass-luminosity calibration has remained problematic. In addition, the mass-visual luminosity relation for stars with 20≥scriptMsign≥0.08script M sign_⊙ is produced by implementing new photometric relations linking V to JHK wavelengths for the nearby stars, supplemented with eclipsing binary information. These relations predict that objects with masses ∼0.08script M sign_⊙ have M_K∼10 and M_V∼18.