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Determining stellar ages is challenging, as it depends on other stellar parameters in a non-linear way and often relies on stellar evolution models to infer the underlying relation between these parameters and age. This complexity increases…
Gyrochronology can yield useful ages for field main-sequence stars, a regime where other techniques are problematic. Typically, gyrochronology relations are calibrated using young ($\lesssim 2$ Gyr) clusters, but the constraints at older…
Star clusters stand at the intersection of much of modern astrophysics: the interstellar medium, gravitational dynamics, stellar evolution, and cosmology. Here we review observations and theoretical models for the formation, evolution, and…
Within the theoretical framework of some modern unification theories the constants of nature are functions of cosmological time. White dwarfs offer the possibility of testing a possible variation of G and, thus, to place constraints to…
Recent studies have started to cast doubt on the assumption that most stars are formed in clusters. Observational studies of field stars and star cluster systems in nearby galaxies can lead to better constraints on the fraction of stars…
In Galactic studies a distinction is made between (open) star clusters and associations. For barely resolved objects at a distance of several Mpc this distinction is not trivial to make. Here we provide an objective definition by comparing…
We propose to use relative galaxy ages as a means of constraining cosmological parameters. By measuring the age difference between two ensembles of old galaxies at somewhat different redshifts, one could determine the derivative of redshift…
We explore a sample of 148 solar-like stars to search for a possible correlation between the slopes of the abundance trends versus condensation temperature (known as the Tc slope) both with stellar parameters and Galactic orbital parameters…
Most stars do not form in isolation but as part of a cluster comprising anywhere between a few dozen to several million stars with stellar densities ranging from 0.01 to several 10$^5$ \Msun pc$^{-3}$. The majority of these clusters…
The dominant systematic uncertainty in the age determination of galactic globular clusters is the depth of the convection envelope of the stars. This parameter is partially degenerate with metallicity which is in turn degenerate with age.…
In this paper, time variable cosmological constant, dubbed {\it age cosmological constant}, is investigated motivated by the fact: any cosmological length scale and time scale can introduce a cosmological constant or vacuum energy density…
Using asteroseismic data and stellar evolution models we make the first detection of a convective core in a Kepler field main-sequence star, putting a stringent constraint on the total size of the mixed zone and showing that extra mixing…
Globular clusters (GCs) are among the oldest objects in the Universe for which an age can be directly measured, thus playing an important cosmological role. This age, on the other hand, depends sensitively on the He abundance, which cannot…
Dynamical evolution plays a key role in shaping the current properties of star clusters and star cluster systems. A detailed understanding of the effects of evolutionary processes is essential to be able to disentangle the properties which…
We investigate how the universal constants, including the fine structure constant, have varied since the early universe close to the Planck energy scale ($E_P\sim 10^{19}$GeV) and, thus, how they have evoluted over the cosmological time…
Globular clusters are the oldest conglomerates of stars in our Galaxy and can be useful laboratories to test theories from stellar evolution to cosmology. In this paper, we present a new method to estimate the absolute age of a globular…
Determining reliable ages for old stellar objects at different redshifts offers a powerful means to constrain cosmology without relying on a specific cosmological model: this is known as the cosmic clocks method. Globular clusters (GCs),…
We present constraints on the variability and binarity of young stars in the central 10 arcseconds (~0.4 pc) of the Milky Way Galactic Center (GC) using Keck Adaptive Optics data over a 12 year baseline. Given our experiment's photometric…
The spectroscopic and photometric signals of the star-to-star abundance variations found in globular clusters seem to be correlated with global parameters like the cluster's metallicity, mass and age. Understanding this behaviour could…
We address the question how accurately stellar ages can be determined by stellar evolution theory. We select the star with the best observational material available - our Sun. We determine the solar age by fitting solar evolution models to…