Gyrochronology is the empirical relation between rotation and age. NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), Kepler, and K2 missions have observed thousands of wide main sequence binaries. Since components of a binary are coeval, their rotation periods should be consistent with gyrochronology models. However, the usefulness of gyrochronology depends upon reliable rotation periods. We explore the reliability of rotation period determinations for a sample of wide binary components from the TESS cycle 3. Wide binaries with the most reliable rotation period determinations provide a strong basis for testing whether the gyrochronology empirical relation derived from open clusters is also valid for field stars.
In This Day and Age: An Empirical Gyrochronology Relation for Partially and Fully Convective Single Field Stars
Gyrochronology, the field of age dating stars using mainly their rotation periods and masses, is ideal for inferring the ages of individual main-sequence stars. However, due to the lack of physical understanding of the complex magnetic fields in stars, gyrochronology relies heavily on empirical calibrations that require consistent and reliable stellar age measurements across a wide range of periods and masses. In this paper, we obtain a sample of consistent ages using the gyro-kinematic age-dating method, a technique to calculate the kinematics ages of stars. Using a Gaussian process model conditioned on ages from this sample (∼1–14 Gyr) and known clusters (0.67–3.8 Gyr), we calibrate the first empirical gyrochronology relation that is capable of inferring ages for single, main-sequence stars between 0.67 and 14 Gyr. Cross-validating and testing results suggest our model can infer cluster and asteroseismic ages with an average uncertainty of just over 1 Gyr, and the inferred ages for wide binaries agree within 0.83 Gyr. With this model, we obtain gyrochronology ages for ∼100,000 stars within 1.5 kpc of the Sun with period measurements from Kepler and Zwicky Transient Facility and 384 unique planet host stars. A simple code is provided to infer gyrochronology ages of stars with temperature and period measurements.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 2108251
- PAR ID:
- 10495631
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astronomical Journal
- Volume:
- 167
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0004-6256
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 159
- Size(s):
- Article No. 159
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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