How Binary Companion Stars Impact Stellar Rotational Evolution

双伴星如何影响恒星旋转演化

• 批准号: 1701468
• 负责人: Stephanie Douglas
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: Douglas Stephanie T
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-15 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701468&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: How; Binary; Companion; Stars; Impact

Stephanie Douglas is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellowship to conduct a program of research and education at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Douglas will observe hundreds of binary stars (stars that orbit each other) to measure their physical properties. This will allow a better understanding of how stars---and their effects on planets---change with time. Alongside this research, Douglas will provide astronomy research experiences to middle school students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and to undergraduate students from groups underrepresented in science. Douglas will study the relationship between a star's rotation period and the proximity of a companion. Observations of open clusters show that among stars of a given age, the rapid rotators tend to be binaries. This could be because of tidal effects acting over 0.01 - 10 billion years or interactions between the binary companion and the protoplanetary disk during the first 10 million years. Both effects would cause binary stars to rotate faster than single stars, thus affecting angular momentum evolution in the binary systems. Douglas will combine rotation periods and binary orbital parameters to explain why rapidly rotating stars tend to be binaries. Douglas will use photometry, spectroscopy, and light curves to identify candidate binaries as well as new radial velocity observations to measure orbits. These data will allow her to test how binary companions affect stellar rotation over time. For the educational component of her work, Douglas will develop inquiry-based activities to introduce middle school students to binary and exoplanet research. She will also advise undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds on projects related to binary and exoplanet research.

斯蒂芬妮·道格拉斯（Stephanie Douglas）被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学奖学金，以在哈佛 - 史密斯森（Harvard-Smithsonian）天体物理学中心进行研究和教育计划。 道格拉斯（Douglas）将观察数百个二元恒星（彼此旋转的恒星）以测量其物理特性。 这将使您可以更好地了解恒星 - 及其对行星的影响 - 随着时间的变化。 除了这项研究之外，道格拉斯还将为来自社会经济处境不利的背景的中学生提供天文学研究经验，并从科学领导不足的团体中的本科生提供。 道格拉斯将研究恒星旋转期与同伴的接近性之间的关系。 对开放群集的观察表明，在给定年龄的恒星中，快速旋转器往往是二进制物。 这可能是由于潮汐效应的作用超过0.01至100亿年，或者在最初的1000万年内二元同伴与原行星磁盘之间的相互作用。 这两种作用都会导致二元恒星比单星星更快，从而影响二元系统中的角动量演化。 道格拉斯将结合旋转周期和二元轨道参数，以解释为什么快速旋转的恒星倾向于二进制。 道格拉斯将使用光度法，光谱和光曲线来识别候选二进制方法以及新的径向速度观测值来测量轨道。 这些数据将使她能够测试二元同伴如何影响恒星旋转。 对于她的工作的教育部分，道格拉斯将开发基于询问的活动，以向中学生介绍二进制和系外行星研究。 她还将为与二进制和系外行星研究有关的项目提供不足背景的本科生建议。