Aims. We intended to compile the most complete catalog of bona fide members and candidate members of the β Pictoris association, and to measure their rotation periods and basic properties from our own observations, public archives, and exploring the literature. Methods. We carried out a multi-observatories campaign to get our own photometric time series and collected all archived public photometric data time series for the stars in our catalog. Each time series was analyzed with the Lomb-Scargle and CLEAN periodograms to search for the stellar rotation periods. We complemented the measured rotational properties with detailed information on multiplicity, membership, and projected rotational velocity available in the literature and discussed star by star. Results. We measured the rotation periods of 112 out of 117 among bona fide members and candidate members of the β Pictoris association and, whenever possible, we also measured the luminosity, radius, and inclination of the stellar rotation axis. This represents to date the largest catalog of rotation periods of any young loose stellar association. Conclusions. We provided an extensive catalog of rotation periods together with other relevant basic properties useful to explore a number of open issues, such as the causes of spread of rotation periods among coeval stars, evolution of angular momentum, and lithium-rotation connection.

We measure the photometric rotation periods of the components of multiple systems in young stellar associations to investigate the causes of the observed rotation period dispersion. We present the case of the wide binary AG Tri in the 23-Myr young β Pictoris Association consisting of K4 + M1 dwarfs. Our multi-band, multi-season photometric monitoring allowed us to measure the rotation periods of both components P A = 12.4 d and P B = 4.66 d, to detect a prominent magnetic activity in the photosphere, likely responsible for the measured radial velocity variations, and for the first time, a flare event on the M1 component AG Tri B. We investigate either the possibility that the faster rotating component may have suffered an enhanced primordial disc dispersal, starting its PMS spin-up earlier than the slower rotating component, or the possibility that the formation of a debris disc may have prevented AG Tri A from gaining part of the angular momentum from the accreting disc.