M DWARFS ARE THE MOST ABUNDANT STARS IN THE GALAXY AND STUDIES OF THEIR POPULATION LEADS TO IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF THE MILKY WAY. MOREOVER THEY ARE THE MOST POPULOUS HOST STARS OF EXOPLANETS THEREFORE THEY ARE ALSO EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR STUDIES OF PLANETARY DIVERSITY. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARAMETERS FOR ALL STUDIES OF GALACTIC AND PLANETARY EVOLUTION IS TO GET AN IDEA OF THE AGE OF THE OBJECT YOU ARE STUDYING. IN GENERAL DETERMINING THE AGE OF A STAR IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. THIS IS PARTICULARLY TRUE FOR FULLY CONVECTIVE M DWARFS WHERE SOLAR TYPE AGE DIAGNOSTICS BREAKDOWN. WHILE THERE ARE A HANDFUL OF M DWARF AGE INDICATORS THAT DO EXTEND OR WORK INDEPENDENTLY -- SUCH AS POPULATION KINEMATICS UV AND X-RAY ACTIVITY AND H? ANALYSIS -- THESE RELATIONS NEED BETTER CALIBRATIONS AND A UNIFIED METHOD FOR CHECKING THE AGE THAT EACH PREDICTS. KEPLER HAS THE ABILITY TO REVOLUTIONIZE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF M DWARF AGES. BOTH ROTATION AND FLARE RATES ARE INDICATIVE OF ACTIVITY AND AGE THEREFORE ARE EXCELLENT ADDITIVE DIAGNOSTICS FOR INFERRING HOW OLD AN OBJECT MAY BE. IN CAMPAIGNS 17 18 AND 19 K2 WILL YIELD A WEALTH OF M DWARFS THAT ARE RIPE FOR EXTRACTING ROTATION AND FLARE RATES AND CHECKING THEM AGAINST KINEMATICS AND H? ACTIVITY TO TEST AGE INFORMATION. WE HAVE IDENTIFIED 1981 OBJECTS WHICH WILL HAVE GAIA DR2 PARALLAXES (HENCE PRECISE KINEMATICS). THERE ARE 613 IN THIS SAMPLE THAT ARE ALSO IN SDSS HENCE HAVE H? INFORMATION. FOR THIS PROPOSAL WE WILL (1) EXTRACT K2 ROTATION AND FLARE RATES FOR ALL 1981 OBJECTS (2) COMBINE WITH AVAILABLE H? (FOR 613 SOURCES) AND KINEMATIC INFORMATION (FOR ALL 1981 SOURCES) (3) APPLY A BAYESIAN APPROACH TO UNIFY THESE (THREE OR) FOUR AGE DIAGNOSTICS AND (4) OBTAIN THE MOST PRECISE AND ACCURATE AGES POSSIBLE FOR M DWARFS. WE WILL CREATE AN OPEN SOURCE DATABASE FOR OUR SAMPLE CONTAINING K2 DATA AND ALL OBSERVED MEASURED AND DERIVED FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS AS A COMMUNITY PRODUCT OF THIS WORK. WHILE WE WILL INITIATE THIS COMMUNITY TOOL USING THE 1981 K2 M DWARFS PROPOSED WE CAN EASILY EXPAND THIS TO INCLUDE M DWARFS EXAMINED IN ALL PREVIOUS CAMPAIGNS MAKING IT A LEGACY TOOL OF KEPLER.
$124,900FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
The American Museum Of Natural History