New insights into the rotational evolution of near-solar age stars from the open cluster M67

Abstract

Gyrochronology allows the derivation of ages for cool main sequence stars from their observed rotation periods and masses, or a suitable proxy of the latter. It is increasingly well explored for FGK stars, but requires further measurements for older ages and K-M-type stars. Recent work has shown that the behavior of stellar spindown differs significantly from prior expectations for late-type stars. We study the 4Gyr-old benchmark open cluster M67 to explore this behavior further. We combined a Gaia DR3 sample with the Kepler K2 superstamp of Campaign 5 around M67 and created new light curves from aperture photometry. The light curves are subjected to an extensive correction process to remove instrumental systematics and trending, followed by period analysis to measure stellar rotation. We identify periodic signals in 136 light curves, 47 of which are from the rotation of effectively single main-sequence stars that span from early-G to mid-M type. These results connect well to prior work on M67 and extend it to much later spectral types. We find that the rotation periods of single stars of age 4Gyr define a tight relationship with color, ranging from spectral types F through M. The corresponding surface of rotation period against age and mass is therefore well-defined to an older age than was previously known. However, the deviations from prior expectations of the stellar spindown behavior are even more pronounced at 4Gyr. The binary cluster members do not follow the single star relationship. The majority are widely scattered below the single star sequence. Consequently, they do not seem to be suitable for gyrochronology at present.

arXiv comment36 pages, 39 figures, published in A&A 672, A159 (2023)

References in corpus (56)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package
• PARSEC: stellar tracks and isochrones with the PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code
• Binary companions of evolved stars in APOGEE DR14: Search method and catalog of ~5,000 companions
• Intrinsic Colors, Temperatures, and Bolometric Corrections of Pre-Main Sequence Stars
• The USNO-B Catalog
• Rotation Periods of 34,030 Kepler Main-Sequence Stars: The Full Autocorrelation Sample
• On the rotational evolution of solar- and late-type stars, its magnetic origins, and the possibility of stellar gyrochronology
• Improving PARSEC models for very low mass stars
• PARSEC evolutionary tracks of massive stars up to $350M_{\odot }$ at metallicities 0.0001$\le Z\le$0.04
• The Second-Generation Guide Star Catalog: Description and Properties
• Clusters and mirages: cataloguing stellar aggregates in the Milky Way
• On the use of Gaia magnitudes and new tables of bolometric corrections
• A spin-down clock for cool stars from observations of a 2.5-billion-year-old cluster
• Introduction to astroML: Machine Learning for Astrophysics
• Periodograms for Multiband Astronomical Time Series
• The Kepler Cluster Study: Stellar Rotation in NGC6811
• EVEREST: Pixel Level Decorrelation of K2 Light curves
• Stellar Rotation in M35: Mass-Period Relations, Spin-Down Rates, and Gyrochronology
• On the metallicity of open clusters. III. Homogenised sample
• Rotation in the Pleiades with K2: I. Data and First Results
• Representations of world coordinates in FITS
• When Do Stalled Stars Resume Spinning Down? Advancing Gyrochronology with Ruprecht 147
• K2 rotation periods for low-mass Hyads and a quantitative comparison of the distribution of slow rotators in the Hyades and Praesepe
• A Temporary Epoch of Stalled Spin-Down for Low-Mass Stars: Insights from NGC 6811 with Gaia and Kepler
• The Color-Period Diagram and Stellar Rotational Evolution - New Rotation Period Measurements in the Open Cluster M34
• An update to the EVEREST K2 pipeline: Short cadence, saturated stars, and Kepler-like photometry down to Kp = 15
• Rotation periods for cool stars in the 4 Gyr-old open cluster M67, the solar-stellar connection, and the applicability of gyrochronology to at least solar age
• Precise time-series photometry for the Kepler-2.0 mission
• Stellar Radial Velocities in the Old Open Cluster M67 (NGC 2682) I. Memberships, Binaries, and Kinematics
• On the competing effect of wind braking and interior coupling in the rotational evolution of solar-like stars
• Stellar rotation periods from K2 Campaigns 0-18 -- Evidence for rotation period bimodality and simultaneous variability decrease
• That's How We Roll: The NASA K2 Mission Science Products and Their Performance Metrics
• The Factory and The Beehive I. Rotation Periods For Low-Mass Stars in Praesepe
• Open clusters in APOGEE and GALAH: Combining Gaia and ground-based spectroscopic surveys
• The Monitor project: Rotation periods of low-mass stars in M50
• A PSF-based Approach to TESS High quality data Of Stellar clusters (PATHOS) -- I. Search for exoplanets and variable stars in the field of 47 Tuc
• The Open Cluster Chemical Abundances and Mapping Survey: II. Precision Cluster Abundances for APOGEE using SDSS DR14
• The end of the white dwarf cooling sequence in M 67
• A 4 Gyr M-dwarf Gyrochrone from CFHT/MegaPrime Monitoring of the Open Cluster M67
• OCCASO III. Iron peak and $\alpha$ elements of 18 open clusters. Comparison with chemical evolution models and field stars
• Double-Dipping: A New Relation between Stellar Rotation and Starspot Activity
• Stellar Radial Velocities in the Old Open Cluster M67 (NGC 2682). II. The Spectroscopic Binary Population
• Evaluating Gyrochronology on the Zero-Age-Main-Sequence: Rotation Periods in the Southern Open Cluster Blanco 1 from the KELT-South Survey
• Further Evidence of Modified Spin-down in Sun-like Stars: Pileups in the Temperature-Period Distribution
• The rotation period distribution of the rich Pleiades-age Southern open cluster NGC 2516. Existence of a representative zero-age main sequence distribution
• A PSF-based Approach to TESS High quality data Of Stellar clusters (PATHOS) -- III. Exploring the properties of young associations through their variables, dippers, and candidate exoplanets
• Gaia Data Release 3. Rotational modulation and patterns of colour variations in solar-like variables
• Gyrochronological dating of the stellar moving group Group X
• A PSF-based Approach to TESS High quality data Of Stellar clusters (PATHOS) -- IV. Candidate exoplanets around stars in open clusters: frequency and age-planetary radius distribution
• Variability Among Stars in the M 67 Field from Kepler/K2-Campaign-5 Light Curves
• The K2 M67 Study: Establishing the Limits of Stellar Rotation Period Measurements in M67 with K2 Campaign 5 Data
• A Revised Gyro-Age for M 67 from Kepler/K2-Campaign-5 Light Curves
• Double-dipping to refine stellar rotation periods

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Wide binaries demonstrate the consistency of rotational evolution between open cluster and field stars
• The high-energy environment of the heavy sub-Earth GJ 367 b indicates likely complete evaporation of its atmosphere
• Perspectives on the Physics of Late-Type Stars from Beyond Low Earth Orbit, the Moon and Mars