The Mamajek 2008 code is good for more than just predicting ages of field stars from rotational period and B-V color. Here's what I'd like to do with it:
1) calculate rotational periods from chromospheric activity using gyro code and compare to photometrically determined rotational periods (this should be done on stars in and out of the DEBRIS field, since testing this on a wider sample of stars will tell us how reasonable the prediction really is). I've done a preliminary study of this and found that there is good agreement between calculated and observed rotational periods. This could prove to be important for us, since it is much easier to calculate R'HK (chromospheric activity) than it is to calculate photometric rotational periods!
2) repeat (1) for using two different models for convective turnover timescale tau(c). There is one method from Noyes 1984, which is what the Mamajek code uses, and the one that most gyrochronology papers seem to reference. However, a new tau(c) model is available from Wright et al. (in press). I'm curious to find out which one of these better predicts observed rotational properties.
3) Take R'HK data at Lick (proposal awaiting decision) to calculate rotational period for those stars with no available data in the literature.
4) Use rotational period, vsini, and stellar radius to estimate an inclination for the system. This may be stretching the Mamajek code a bit, but it's worth working through and calculating what the error would be on such an estimation. As long as it's less than 50%, I think it would be useful to people studying the morphology of magnetic fields around solar-type stars (and similar endeavors).
To follow up on the actual DEBRIS sample, here's what I'd like to do:
5) Figure out how many DEBRIS stars have observed debris disks (or unexplained infrared excesses).
6) Differentiate between stars with debris disks and those with actual planets or secondary stars causing the IR excess.
Where I am now:
1) I have R'HK for 248 FGK stars in my sample (90%)- most of my R'HK values come from Wright 2004, Gray 2003, Gray 2006, and Soderblom 1985. I used the mamajek gyro code to calculate a rotational period and age from these stars using the Noyes 1984 convective turnover timescale model. I am still in the process of individually searching for photometric rotation periods from the literature for FGK stars.
3) I've sent in the proposal for Lick time (4 nights in the winter quarter with two additional nights requested if there's time) to measure R'HK for the remaining stars (plus a couple with published R'HK values for calibration)
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