Mass and Age Standard Stars - Studying Timing Reliability in Cluster Territory (MASS-STRICT)

在天文学中，年龄很难精确测定，部分原因是它不是可以直接测量的东西。恒星是最自然的计时器，星团为许多不同的年龄测年方法提供了试验场。这个研究小组将在星团中选定轨道多星团作为年龄测定的精确标准。目标是在一个巨大的范围内，将年龄的不确定性降低到10%以下，从年轻的1亿年到40亿年，就像太阳一样。随着更大的望远镜使我们能够研究更遥远、更暗淡的恒星并了解它们的历史，年龄测量变得越来越重要。调查人员更广泛的影响计划集中在解决妇女和少数民族在物理科学领域持续代表性不足的问题上。调查员将在他们的西班牙裔服务机构宣传活动。他们计划积极招收少数民族学生（特别是早期本科生），定期进行学术指导和职业准备指导，并提供全年的研究经验。这些组成部分中的每一个都是建立学生进入物理科学职业并最终使他们成为“正常”选择的重要因素。可靠的年龄是理解恒星运行和银河系组成的重要因素。这项研究将利用双星的精确亮度、光谱速度和干涉位置测量来推断精确的年龄，目标是常用的星团，用于校准和测试最具影响力的年龄测量技术。例如，星震学提供了数千颗穿过银河系的红巨星的年龄，但这项技术目前存在可以识别和纠正的系统误差。单个主序星旋转周期的年龄需要与已知年龄的天体进行校准。冷却白矮星的年龄主要取决于预测产生观测到的白矮星的恒星的初始质量和确定其年龄的能力。但在天文学中最常见的是，恒星群的亮度和颜色被用来估计年龄，而这项研究将对附近的星团进行最精确的亮度测量。作为奖励，精确测量的质量将为测试恒星模型提供一个重要的、期待已久的新维度。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Age is very difficult to determine precisely in astronomy, partly because it is not something that can be directly measured. Stars are the most natural timers to use, and star clusters provide the testing ground for many different age dating methods. This research group will develop selected orbiting multi-star groups in star clusters as precise standards for age dating. The goal is to reduce age uncertainties to under 10% over a huge range, from a youthful 100 million years to 4 billion years, like the Sun. Age measurement is becoming more and more important as larger telescopes allow us to study more distant, fainter stars and to understand their histories. The investigators broader impact plan is centered on addressing the continuing underrepresentation of women and minorities within the physical sciences. The investigator will promote activities at their Hispanic-Serving Institution. They plan active recruitment of minority students (especially early undergraduates), regular academic mentoring and career preparation guidance, and full-year research experiences. Each of these components is important for establishing the flow of students into physical science careers and ultimately making them "normal" choices.Reliable ages are an important ingredient in understanding the workings of stars and the assembly of the Milky Way galaxy. This research will use precise brightness, spectroscopic velocity, and interferometric position measurements of binary stars to infer precise ages, targeting star clusters that are in common use for calibration and testing of the most impactful age measurement techniques. For example, asteroseismology is providing ages for thousands of oscillating red giant stars cutting through the Milky Way, but the technique is currently subject to systematic errors that can be identified and corrected. Ages from the rotation periods of individual main sequence stars require calibration with objects of known age. Ages from cooling white dwarfs depend critically on the ability to predict the initial mass of the star that produced an observed white dwarf and determine its age. But most commonly in astronomy, the brightness and colors of groups of stars are used to estimate age, and this research will examine nearby clusters with the most precise brightness measurements for many members. As a bonus, precisely measured masses will provide an important and long-awaited new dimension for testing models of stars.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.