Using White Dwarf-M Dwarf Pairs to Probe the Magnetic Activity and Angular Momentum Evolution of Low-Mass Stars

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This award will support an observational study of widely separated binary stars consisting of a white dwarf and a cool unevolved (type M) dwarf. It has been known for decades that M stars show many signs of magnetic activity, such as chromospheric emission lines, and that the activity declines as the stars age. This study will use the white dwarfs to determine the age of each binary system, and study binaries over a wide age range to explore the age/activity relation.The work is also expected to address issues of habitability on exoplanets around M dwarfs and to provide new information on the evolution of stellar populations in our Milky Way galaxy.