Collaborative Research: Ages for Red Giants: New Insights into the Star Formation of the Milky Way

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In this collaborative award, the PIs will determine stellar ages to within 20% using Kepler and CoRoT asteroseismic data, and high-resolution spectra of more than 10,000 red giant branch (RGB) stars. The investigators plan to capitalize on the fact that if the mass and composition of an RGB star can be measured, then the age of the star can be determined accurately because of the swiftness of evolution after the main sequence. Asteroseismological data provides information on RGB pulsation amplitudes, which are combined with metallicity information from spectroscopy and photometry in order to derive the stars? ages. The improved stellar ages are needed to constrain models of star formation and galactic evolution. The proposal has stated broader impacts in that it will help train a graduate student, some undergraduate students. Also, the work will be relevant to stellar modeling as well as well as Galactic modeling, and the investigators will produce a catalog of red giants with ages, stellar parameters and chemical abundances.