CAREER: Fixing Stellar Chronometers With Open Clusters

职业：用疏散星团修复恒星天文钟

• 批准号: 1255419
• 负责人: Marcel Agueros
• 金额: $ 90.35万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1255419&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Fixing; Stellar; Chronometers; Open

A star's age is one of its most fundamental parameters. It is also, for isolated 'field' stars, notoriously difficult to measure accurately. Two standard stellar chronometers - the age-rotation and age-activity relations - generally struggle to produce age estimates with uncertainties better than 50%. The PI will tackle this problem by combining a wealth of new observations from the Palomar Transient Factory Open Cluster Survey with follow-up spectroscopy and X-ray observations. He will assemble a complete, uniform sample of rotation periods and activity measurements for low-mass stars in six open clusters ranging in age from 35 Myr to 2.5 Gyr. By examining the relationships between stellar age, rotation, and activity, he will address three basic questions: (1) the rotational period distribution of low mass zero-age main sequence stars, (2) the evolution of rotational periods of low mass stars with ages 500 My, and (3) the possible divergence of age-activity and age-rotation relations at ages 500 My. The work will provide a significant leap in our understanding of stellar ages. In turn, this will inform us about the composition and internal structure of stars, and it will allow us to better understand stellar magnetic fields. The PI will also perform a wide-ranging set of synergistic education and outreach activities centered on ensuring that students from underrepresented minorities have successful transitions into graduate school. As the Director of Columbia University's Bridge to the Ph.D. in the Natural Sciences scheme, he will play a leading role in recruiting, mentoring, and educating post-baccalaureate minority students in a structured program designed to ensure their continued success in Ph.D. programs.

星星的年龄是它最基本的参数之一。对于孤立的“场”星，它也是众所周知的难以精确测量。两个标准的恒星计时器-年龄旋转和年龄活动关系-通常很难产生不确定性优于50%的年龄估计。PI将通过将Palomar瞬态工厂开放集群调查的大量新观测与后续光谱学和X射线观测相结合来解决这个问题。他将收集一个完整的，统一的样本旋转周期和活动测量低质量的恒星在六个疏散星团的年龄范围从35万年到2.5 Gyr。通过研究恒星年龄、自转和活动之间的关系，他将解决三个基本问题：（1）低质量零年龄主序星的自转周期分布，（2）年龄为500 My的低质量恒星自转周期的演化，以及（3）年龄-活动和年龄-自转关系在500 My时可能的发散。这项工作将为我们对恒星年龄的理解提供一个重大飞跃。反过来，这将告诉我们恒星的组成和内部结构，并使我们能够更好地了解恒星磁场。PI还将开展一系列广泛的协同教育和宣传活动，以确保来自代表性不足的少数民族的学生成功过渡到研究生院。作为哥伦比亚大学博士之桥的负责人。在自然科学计划中，他将在招聘、指导和教育学士后少数民族学生方面发挥主导作用，这是一个结构化的计划，旨在确保他们在博士学位上继续取得成功。程序.