Download Abstract Submitted for the PHY599 Meeting of

Abstract Submitted
for the PHY599 Meeting of
USB Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
The Ages of Stars STEFAN WALTER, Stony Brook University — In my talk I will speak about one of the most fundamental
properties of a star, namely its age. The motivation to determine a star’s
age is that it allows the study of the time evolution of astronomical phenomena related to stars and their surrounding bodies. I will start with a
basic and short description of the Hertzsprung-Russell-Diagram, which
allows (together with stellar evolutionary models) an age determination
for star clusters, but cannot be applied to isolated (field-) stars. A short
description of the ”Isochrone method” for determining a star’s age will
be given. Finally a recently developed method, the ”Gyrochronology”,
will be explained in detail. If there is time, I will also show a technique
based on the decay of uranium and that is used to determine the age of
very old stars.
References
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S. Barnes, ApJ 669, 1167-1189 (2007)
[2]
S. Barnes, ApJ 586, 464-479 (2003)
[3]
A. Skumanich, ApJ 171, 565-567 (1972)
[4]
S. Meibom, e-Print arXiv:0812.5078 [astro-ph] (2008)
March 25, 2009
Stefan Walter
[email protected]
Stony Brook University