Spectroscopy of Solar-Type Stars: Fundamental Problems in Stellar Astrophysics

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AST-0908342KingThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr. Jeremy King and his students will utilize high-resolution spectroscopy to address several longstanding or timely issues of fundamental stellar astrophysics. Firstly, they will identify short-period tidally-locked binaries in globular clusters to provide an improved estimate of the big-bang production of lithium and thereby obtain a direct estimate of lithium destruction in the old stars of the Milky Way's halo. Secondly, the group will participate in an already-initiated program to investigate the large dispersion of lithium abundances in the cool stars of the Pleiades cluster, the source of which is not currently understood. Thirdly, they will initiate a program to identify exoplanets using spectrographs on meter-class telescopes to detect chromospheric flux variations due to star-planet interactions. Fourthly, they will search for and study the properties of nearby post-T-Tauri stars, which are stars like the Sun but with ages corresponding to the epoch of terrestrial planet formation. Finally, the PI and his students will derive spectroscopic parameters and abundances of stars of varying evolutionary states in an old disk moving group to establish whether this kinematic entity exhibits chemical homogeneity.Dr. King will actively involve physics majors and summer students at South Carolina State University in all aspects of the program. This collaboration will build partnerships between research-class universities and institutions like SCSU that are successful in graduating minority students in astrophysics. The PI will continue providing undergraduate research and publication opportunities for Clemson University students. The fundamental nature of the research is expected to have a broad impact on the field of stellar astrophysics and the programs of other researchers in this field.