English

Ensemble Kinematic Ages for 1.5 Million LAMOST Stars

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2026-07-24 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

We present a framework for inferring stellar ages from spectroscopic stellar parameters, calibrated with ensemble kinematics by averaging over the median vertical action, JzJ_z, for stars with similar atmospheric and chemical properties, yielding self-consistent age estimates across the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. We refer to these ages as ensemble kinematic ages as the age scale is calibrated from the average kinematics of ensembles of stars with similar stellar parameters. Individual stellar kinematics are not used in assigning ages. We validate the method against subgiant ages, achieving an accuracy of ~30%, comparable to [C/N]-based estimates. We find a clear age-JzJ_z relations that enable age inference up to ~10 Gyr for both the high- and low-α\alpha disks. Applying this framework to 1.5 million LAMOST stars, we derive ages for subgiants and giants with typical uncertainties of ~2 Gyr. The inferred ages agree well with literature age catalogs, with no significant systematic trends as a function of logg\log g. We also demonstrate the potential of empirical isochrones to calibrate theoretical stellar models. We identify an old (~7 Gyr) population within the low-α\alpha disk but draw no firm conclusions. Although ensemble kinematic ages are statistical and sensitive to selection effects, Galactic potential assumptions, and Galactic location, they provide a robust population-level tool for Galactic archaeology, complementing traditional age indicators and extending age estimates across the full HR diagram.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.22309,
  title  = {Ensemble Kinematic Ages for 1.5 Million LAMOST Stars},
  author = {Yuxi Lu and Marc H. Pinsonneault},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.22309},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Submitted to AJ