Statistical analysis of stellar evolution

Abstract

Color-Magnitude Diagrams (CMDs) are plots that compare the magnitudes (luminosities) of stars in different wavelengths of light (colors). High nonlinear correlations among the mass, color, and surface temperature of newly formed stars induce a long narrow curved point cloud in a CMD known as the main sequence. Aging stars form new CMD groups of red giants and white dwarfs. The physical processes that govern this evolution can be described with mathematical models and explored using complex computer models. These calculations are designed to predict the plotted magnitudes as a function of parameters of scientific interest, such as stellar age, mass, and metallicity. Here, we describe how we use the computer models as a component of a complex likelihood function in a Bayesian analysis that requires sophisticated computing, corrects for contamination of the data by field stars, accounts for complications caused by unresolved binary-star systems, and aims to compare competing physics-based computer models of stellar evolution.

Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-AOAS219 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)

References in corpus (6)

• The Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Database
• Recovering the star formation rate in the solar neighborhood
• Inverting Color-Magnitude Diagrams to Access Precise Star Cluster Parameters: A Bayesian Approach
• A robust statistical estimation of the basic parameters of single stellar populations. I. Method
• The old open clusters Berkeley 32 and King 11
• New Techniques to Determine Ages of Open Clusters Using White Dwarfs

Cited by in corpus (21)

• A self-consistent, absolute isochronal age scale for young moving groups in the solar neighbourhood
• Age determination for 269 $Gaia$ DR2 Open Clusters
• BONNSAI: a Bayesian tool for comparing stars with stellar evolution models
• ASteCA - Automated Stellar Cluster Analysis
• The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters XIV: Bayesian Single-Population Analysis of 69 Globular Clusters
• Precise Ages of Field Stars from White Dwarf Companions
• The White Dwarf Age of NGC 2477
• BONNSAI: correlated stellar observables in Bayesian methods
• Stellar ages and masses in the solar neighbourhood: Bayesian analysis using spectroscopy and Gaia DR1 parallaxes
• Bayesian Investigation of Isochrone Consistency Using the Old Open Cluster NGC 188
• Bayesian Analysis of Two Stellar Populations in Galactic Globular Clusters III: Analysis of 30 Clusters
• 21st Century Statistical and Computational Challenges in Astrophysics
• Precise Ages of Field Stars From White Dwarf Companions in Gaia DR2
• Bayesian astrostatistics: a backward look to the future
• Bayesian isochrone fitting and stellar ages
• Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling of Initial-Final Mass Relations Across Star Clusters
• A Hierarchical Model for the Ages of Galactic Halo White Dwarfs
• Extracting parameters from Colour-Magnitude Diagrams
• The Power of Principled Bayesian Methods in the Study of Stellar Evolution
• Straight to the Source: Detecting Aggregate Objects in Astronomical Images with Proper Error Control
• Bayesian model selection in additive partial linear models via locally adaptive splines