Open Clusters as Laboratories for Cool Star Evolution: Highlights from the Cool Stars 23 Splinter Session
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Open clusters remain among the most powerful laboratories for calibrating how fundamental stellar properties such as rotation, magnetic activity, surface chemistry, and internal structure evolve over the pre-main-sequence to main-sequence and post-main-sequence stellar lifetime. Because cluster members share a common age, galactic environment, and initial composition, they provide empirical anchors upon which age-dating techniques such as gyrochronology, activity-age relations, and chemical clocks are built. This paper summarizes the Cool Stars 23 splinter session - Open Clusters as Laboratories for Cool Star Evolution, held on 15 June 2026 in Tokyo, Japan. The session comprised one invited review, ten contributed talks, and ten poster pop-up presentations, organized around three themes: the evolution of rotation, magnetic activity, and chemical abundances (Li-depletion, [C/N], [Y/Mg], and neutron-capture elements). We close with a summary of the open questions identified in the panel discussion and the observational and theoretical work that new surveys (e.g. Gaia DR4, 4MOST, WEAVE) and missions (e.g. PLATO, Roman) will enable over the coming years. Together, these efforts will help assess the current state of the field and shape its future directions.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Chahal, Deepak, Caccherano, Beatrice, Gillen, Edward, Fritzewski, Dario J., Jeffries, Robin D., Covey, Kevin R., Boyle, Andrew, Cao, Lyra, Chiti, Federica, Hughes, Alexander, Moranta, Leslie, Myers, Natalie R., Pass, Emily K., Van-Lane, Phil, Wanderley, Fábio C., Wood, Mackenna L., Douglas, Stephanie T., Montes, David, Prisinzano, Loredana
Institutions: Queen Mary University of London, KU Leuven, Keele University, Western Washington University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt University, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Espace pour la vie, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, University of California San Diego, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Valongo Observatory, Museum of Science and Industry, Lafayette College, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, National Institute for Astrophysics
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7211975571