A new era for stellar ages with older benchmark star clusters

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Jason Curtis is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Columbia University. Using observations from ground- and space-based telescopes, Curtis will study the relationship between magnetic activity and rotation of stars and how this relationship changes with age. Because stars change very little over most of their lifetimes, determining their ages is challenging, but it is essential for understanding planets around other stars. Curtis will also conduct an annual data science workshop in basic computing, statistical, and data analysis methods for the participants of a program that prepares underrepresented minority students for graduate school; and he will serve as research mentor to one student from this program.The proposed research will address stellar ages with a two-pronged observational program: (1) Curtis will analyze rotation data for 3 GYr stars down to 0.39 Solar masses from his ongoing survey of Ruprecht 147 with the Kepler space telescope, to calibrate gyrochronology relations at low mass at older ages. The Kepler survey also will yield asteroseismic measurements for dwarfs in this benchmark star cluster. Comparison of the red giant asteroseismic masses and FGK dwarf rotation sequences between the similarly aged NGC 6819 and R147 will demonstrate the precision and relative accuracy of each method; and (2) Curtis has initiated a large chromospheric activity survey of middle-aged star clusters with the Multi Mirror Telescope (MMT) to establish an activity-age relationship that is applicable to K dwarfs. As part of his education plan, Curtis will be integrated into Columbia University's Bridge to the Ph.D Program to (1) conduct an annual data science workshop series that will instruct Bridge Participants in basic computing, statistical methods, and data analysis with Python (materials from the workshop will be incorporated in a Data Science Primer for Astronomers); and (2) supervise one Bridge Participant's research, which will focus on measuring 3 GYr M dwarf rotation.