Using White Dwarf-M Dwarf Pairs to Probe the Magnetic Activity and Angular Momentum Evolution of Low-Mass Stars

该奖项将支持对由一颗白矮星和一颗冷的未演化(M型)矮星组成的相距较远的双星的观测研究。众所周知，几十年来，M星显示出许多磁活动的迹象，例如色球发射线，并且这种活动随着恒星的年龄而下降。这项研究将使用白矮星来确定每个双星系统的年龄，并研究广泛年龄范围内的双星，以探索年龄/活动关系。这项工作还有望解决M矮星周围系外行星的宜居性问题，并提供关于我们银河系恒星种群演化的新信息。

This award will support an observational study of widely separated binary stars consisting of a white dwarf and a cool unevolved (type M) dwarf. It has been known for decades that M stars show many signs of magnetic activity, such as chromospheric emission lines, and that the activity declines as the stars age. This study will use the white dwarfs to determine the age of each binary system, and study binaries over a wide age range to explore the age/activity relation.The work is also expected to address issues of habitability on exoplanets around M dwarfs and to provide new information on the evolution of stellar populations in our Milky Way galaxy.