CAREER: Improved Stellar Models and Globular Cluster Age Estimates

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Dr. Chaboyer will carry out a program of research and education that focuses on studies of stellar evolution through the development and distribution of improved stellar models and isochrones. His research plan involves two broadly defined areas. First, he plans to construct improved stellar models and isochrones for stellar systems with ages greater than 1 Gyr. These models will incorporate advances in our understanding of rotation, mixing, and convection. He will apply and test these models using a combination of helio- and astro-seismology, abundances of the light elements lithium, beryllium and boron, and luminosity functions of globular clusters. In a second area of research, he will apply these models to arrive at new estimates of ages for the oldest globular clusters, investigating the effects of the uncertainties in the distance scale and the models themselves, and carrying out a detailed Monte Carlo study of the errors involved. He will bring much of this research activity to students and the public by developing computer animated videos and web-based access to the stellar structure calculations and will use these tools to develop introductory astronomy labs.