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At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Age Disparity in Palliative Radiation Therapy Among Patients With Advanced Cancer

Purpose/Objective: Palliative radiation therapy represents an important treatment option among patients with advanced cancer, although research shows decreased use among older patients. This study evaluated age-related patterns of palliative radiation use among an elderly Medicare population. Methods and Materials: We identified 63,221 patients with metastatic lung, breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer diagnosed between 2000 and 2007 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database. Receipt of palliative radiation therapy was extracted from Medicare claims. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis determined residual age-related disparity in the receipt of palliative radiation therapy after controlling for confounding covariates including age-related differences in patient and demographic covariates, length of life, and patient preferences for aggressive cancer therapy. Results: The use of radiation decreased steadily with increasing patient age. Forty-two percent of patients aged 66 to 69 received palliative radiation therapy. Rates of palliative radiation decreased to 38%, 32%, 24%, and 14% among patients aged 70 to 74, 75 to 79, 80 to 84, and over 85, respectively. Multivariate analysis found that confounding covariates attenuated these findings, although the decreased relative rate of palliative radiation therapy among the elderly remained clinically and statistically significant. On multivariate analysis, compared to patients 66 to 69 years old, those aged 70 to 74, 75 to 79, 80 to 84, and over 85 had a 7%, 15%, 25%, and 44% decreased rate of receiving palliative radiation, respectively (all P<.0001). Conclusions: Age disparity with palliative radiation therapy exists among older cancer patients. Further research should strive to identify barriers to palliative radiation among the elderly, and extra effort should be made to give older patients the opportunity to receive this quality of life-enhancing treatment at the end of life.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Fine–scale structural features of intercritically aged HSLA-100 plate steel and their influence on yield strength and low-temperature impact toughness

Highlights: • The fine-scale microstructure of HSLA-100 steel intercritically aged at 677 °C was characterized. • Continuous austenite films evolved into isolated islands; large islands transformed to brittle martensite upon quenching. • Copper precipitates in martensite were coarse, and some sub-grain coarsening occurred within martensite. • Intercritically aged steel possessed an inferior strength-toughness balance as compared with sub-critically aged steel. - Abstract: Fine-scale structural features of an HSLA-100 steel intercritically aged at 950 K (677 °C) for 4.2 ks (70 min.) were investigated via transmission electron microscopy. The microstructure consisted of approximately 90 vol. pct. of low‑carbon lath martensite. Average lath width was about 0.25 μm, unchanged from the as-quenched condition, owing to a high number density of epsilon‑copper precipitates at these boundaries. About 10 vol. pct. of medium‑carbon austenite existed as coarsened, broken-up islands between laths; martensite lath boundary coverage by austenite was notably reduced compared to the as-quenched condition. Greater continuity between adjacent low‑carbon martensite laths was accompanied by coarse copper precipitates within laths and an order of magnitude lower dislocation density than the as-quenched martensite. Collectively, these features produced a sub-grain coarsening effect. Austenite islands larger than about 0.5 μm were unstable with respect to the formation of fresh, medium‑carbon martensite regions. Copper precipitation within austenite islands (owing to carbon and copper enrichment) might also have contributed to austenite transformation upon quenching. Intercritical aging was associated with a strong-and-undesirable deviation from strength-toughness behavior at sub-critical aging temperatures. Two key factors were identified as being responsible for this negative outcome: (i) a sub-grain coarsening effect associated with “delamellarization” of low‑carbon martensite and austenite and (ii) the formation of brittle martensite upon quenching. Quantitative estimates of the changes in strength and impact toughness are provided for microstructural differences between intercritically aged and subcritically aged material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of thermal aging on oxide film of stainless steel weld overlay cladding exposed to high temperature water

Highlights: • Oxide film of aged cladding material in high temperature water was studied. • Thermal aging contributed to high corrosion susceptibility of the ferrite phase. • Highly corrosion of aged ferrite phase was caused by spinodal decomposition. • Carbides along phase boundary facilitated the corrosion of the cladding material. - Abstract: Characteristics of the oxide film formed on stainless steel weld overlay cladding aged at 400 °C for different times in high temperature water were studied. The results showed that thermal aging showed no obvious effect on the volume fraction of ferrite phase but resulted in high corrosion susceptibility of the aged ferrite phase mainly. The oxide film formed on the unaged cladding material consisted of 100-nm-thick inner oxide layer (FeCr{sub 2}O{sub 4} and Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3}) and Fe-rich outer oxide particles (Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}) with a size of 2 O4, Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}) and outer oxide particles (Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} and FeCr{sub 2}O{sub 4}) with a size of <700 nm formed on the aged ferrite phase. Spinodal decomposition was considered as the main factor to promote the corrosion of the aged ferrite phase, and existence of carbides along phase boundary facilitated corrosion of the cladding material in high temperature water.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Characterization of the effects of different tempers and aging temperatures on the precipitation behavior of Al-Mg (5.25at.%)-Mn alloys

We investigated the effects of different tempers (H131 and H116) and different aging temperatures (50 and 70 °C) on the precipitation behavior of Al-Mg (5.25 at.%)-Mn (Al 5083) alloys aged for a long time (41 and 30 months) using electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD), scanning transmission electron microscopy(STEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDS), atom probe tomography (APT), and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). Results for the GP zones and β'' phases were found in Al 5083 H116 aged at 50 °C for 24 months using APT. EDS and SANS revealed that a phase transformation process from GP zones to β'/β phases occurred for precipitates formed in both Al 5083 H131 and H116 aged at 70 °C. The effective diffusion coefficient of Mg in Al 5083 H131 is 1.8 times of that in Al 5083 H116 aged at 70 °C. The precipitation process in Al 5083 H116 aged at 50 °C is much slower than that in the sample aged at 70 °C. Finally, we identified the coarsening process in Al 5083 H131 and H116 aged at 70 °C for > 9 months.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2010

Aging behavior of polymeric solar absorber materials - Part 1: Engineering plastics

In this series of two papers, various polymeric materials are investigated as to their potential applicability as absorber materials for solar thermal collectors. The focus of the investigation is to study the aging behavior of these materials under maximum operating conditions (80 C in water up to 16,000 h) and stagnation conditions (140 C in air up to 500 h) typical for northern climate. The materials supplied or produced as polymer films were first characterized in the unaged state and then for different states of aging by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and by mechanical tensile tests. Physical aging phenomena were studied by DSC, SEC analysis provided information on chemical degradation of the materials. In addition, physical and chemical aging were both analyzed via the small and large strain mechanical behavior. While the present Part 1 of this paper series deals with the aging behavior of engineering plastics, including two amorphous polymers (a polyphenylene ether polystyrene blend (PPE + PS) and polycarbonate (PC)) and two semi-crystalline polymers (two types of polyamide 12 (PA12)), the aging behavior of so-called ''commodity'' plastics (PE and PP) is the subject of Part 2. Comparing the two aging conditions, the amorphous materials (PPE + PS and PC) turned out to be more prone to physical and chemical aging at 140 C in air. In contrast, the semi-crystalline PA12 materials were more strongly affected by exposure to water at 80 C, although to different degrees, depending on the modification. (author)

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Using naturally occurring radionuclides to determine drinking water age in a community water system

Drinking water quality in a community water system is closely linked to the age of water from initial treatment to time of delivery. However, water age is difficult to measure with conventional chemical tracers; particularly in stagnant water, where the relationship between disinfectant decay, microbial growth, and water age is poorly understood. Using radionuclides that were naturally present in source water, we found that measured activity ratios of 90 Y/ 90 Sr and 234 Th/ 238 U in discrete drinking water samples of known age accurately estimated water age up to 9 days old (σ est : ± 3.8 h, P < 0.0001, r 2 = 0.998, n = 11) and 25 days old (σ est : ± 13.3 h, P < 0.0001, r 2 = 0.996, n = 12), respectively. Moreover, 90 Y-derived water ages in a community water system (6.8 × 10 4 m 3 d –1 capacity) were generally consistent with water ages derived from an extended period simulation model. Radionuclides differ from conventional chemical tracers in that they are ubiquitous in distribution mains and connected premise plumbing. The ability to measure both water age and an analyte (e.g., chemical or microbe) in any water sample at any time allows for new insight into factors that control drinking water quality.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sensitivity of Carbonaceous Aerosol Properties to the Implementation of a Dynamic Aging Parameterization in the Regional Climate Model RegCM

Freshly emitted soot is hydrophobic, but condensation of secondary aerosols and coagulation with other particles modify its hygroscopic optical properties. This conversion is referred to as “aerosol aging.” Many climate models represent this aging process with a fixed aging time scale, whereas in reality, it is a dynamic process that depends on environmental conditions. Here, we implement a dynamic aging parameterization scheme in the regional climate model RegCM4 in place of the fixed aging timescale of 1.15 days (~27.6 h) and examine its impact on the aerosol life cycle over the Indian subcontinent. The conversion from hydrophobic to hydrophilic aerosol is usually lower than 27.6 h over the entire landmass and lower than 10 h over the polluted Indo-Gangetic Basin (IGB), with seasonal variability. Due to the implementation of the dynamic aging scheme, the column burden and surface mass concentration of carbonaceous aerosols increase during the drier season (December–February) when washout is negligible. The burden is reduced during the wet season (June–September) due to a more efficient washout except over the IGB, where a reduction in precipitation as a result of radiative feedbacks increases the aerosol concentrations. Over the polluted IGB, surface dimming increases due to the dynamic aging scheme, with the top of the atmosphere forcing remaining mostly unchanged. As a result, atmospheric heating increases by at least 1.2 W/m 2 . Our results suggest that climate models should incorporate dynamic aging for a more realistic representation of aerosol simulations, especially in highly polluted regions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Age of Evapotranspiration: Lower‐Bound Constraints From Distributed Water Fluxes Across the Continental United States

Abstract Unlike streamflow, which can be sampled in aggregate at the catchment outlet, evapotranspiration (ET) is spatially dispersed, challenging large‐scale age estimation. Here, we introduce an approach for constraining the age of ET via mass balance and present the minimum flux‐weighted age of ET across the continental United States using distributed, publicly available water flux data sets. The lower‐bound constraint on ET age can be calculated by assuming that ET is preferentially sourced from the most recent precipitation through a last‐in, first‐out algorithm. From 2012 to 2017, ET was at least several months old across large areas of the western continental United States, including in Mediterranean and (semi‐)arid climate zones and shrub and evergreen needleleaf plant communities. The primary limitation of this approach is that it provides only a minimum flux‐weighted average age to satisfy the mass balance of outgoing fluxes; true ET fluxes are composed of distributions of ages and may be composed of much older water. The primary advantage of the approach is that flux time series of precipitation and ET are sufficient to constrain ET age, and model parameterization is unnecessary. ET ages can be used to validate tracer‐aided and modeling approaches and inform studies of biogeochemistry, water‐rock interactions, and plant water sourcing under drought.

Hahm, W. J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Machine learning approaches to predict gestational age in normal and complicated pregnancies via urinary metabolomics analysis

The elucidation of dynamic metabolomic changes during gestation is particularly important for the development of methods to evaluate pregnancy status or achieve earlier detection of pregnancy-related complications. Some studies have constructed models to evaluate pregnancy status and predict gestational age using omics data from blood biospecimens; however, less invasive methods are desired. Here we propose a model to predict gestational age, using urinary metabolite information. In our prospective cohort study, we collected 2741 urine samples from 187 healthy pregnant women, 23 patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and 14 patients with spontaneous preterm birth. Using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, we identified 184 urinary metabolites that showed dynamic systematic changes in healthy pregnant women according to gestational age. A model to predict gestational age during normal pregnancy progression was constructed; the correlation coefficient between actual and predicted weeks of gestation was 0.86. The predicted gestational ages of cases with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy exhibited significant progression, compared with actual gestational ages. This is the first study to predict gestational age in normal and complicated pregnancies by using urinary metabolite information. Minimally invasive urinary metabolomics might facilitate changes in the prediction of gestational age in various clinical settings.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Memory in aging colloidal gels with time-varying attraction

Here, we report a combined rheology, x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, and modeling study of gel formation and aging in suspensions of nanocolloidal spheres with volume fractions of 0.20 and 0.43 and with a short-range attraction whose strength is tuned by changing temperature. Following a quench from high temperature, where the colloids are essentially hard spheres, to a temperature below the gel point, the suspensions form gels that undergo aging characterized by a steadily increasing elastic shear modulus and slowing, increasingly constrained microscopic dynamics. The aging proceeds at a faster rate for stronger attraction strength. When the attraction strength is suddenly lowered during aging, the gel properties evolve non-monotonically in a manner resembling the Kovacs effect in glasses, in which the modulus decreases and the microscopic dynamics become less constrained for a period before more conventional aging resumes. Eventually, the properties of the gel following the decrease in attraction strength converge to those of a gel that has undergone aging at the lower attraction strength throughout. The time scale of this convergence increases as a power law with the age at which the attraction strength is decreased and decreases exponentially with the magnitude of the change in attraction. A model for gel aging in which particles attach and detach from the gel at rates that depend on their contact number reproduces these trends and reveals that the non-monotonic behavior results from the dispersion in the rates that the populations of particles with different contact number adjust to the new attraction strength.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Phase-field modeling of aging-induced microstructure evolution in pentaerythritol tetranitrate thin films and ramifications for shock initiation

Aging of energetic materials may change performance and affect their safety and reliability, but the relationship between microstructure changes induced by aging and consequent performance changes has not been fully established. This work presents results of phase-field method simulations used to model microstructure evolution of vapor-deposited pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) thin films. Simulated aging is shown to induce grain coarsening and substantial changes of the configuration of porosity in the film: Specifically, we show that porosity tends to concentrate in large pores to a greater degree in aged films, a state that is arrived at by closure or consolidation of small pores. To evaluate the performance of the as-deposited and aged films, we perform two-dimensional hydrocode flyer-film impact simulations that incorporate the phase-field output microstructures directly, permitting us to connect features therein to changes in reactivity, a key metric of energy output for shock initiation. The results demonstrate that declining sensitivity obtained for the simulated aged films can be correlated with the loss of fine-structured pores relatively early in the aging process, while long-term microstructure evolution that gradually alters the shape of large, branching pores is less impactful. Finally, we discuss commonalities and discrepancies between our simulation results and high-throughput initiation experiments on shock initiation of aged PETN thin films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

THE CHROMOSPHERIC ACTIVITY, AGE, METALLICITY, AND SPACE MOTIONS OF 36 WIDE BINARIES

We present the chromospheric activity (CA) levels, metallicities, and full space motions for 41 F, G, K, and M dwarf stars in 36 wide binary systems. Thirty-one of the binaries contain a white dwarf (WD) component. In such binaries, the total age can be estimated by adding the cooling age of the WD to an estimate of the progenitor's main-sequence lifetime. To better understand how CA correlates to stellar age, 14 cluster member stars were also observed. Our observations demonstrate for the first time that, in general, CA decays with age from 50 Myr to at least 8 Gyr for stars with 1.0 {<=} V - I {<=} 2.4. However, little change occurs in the CA level for stars with V - I < 1.0 between 1 Gyr and 5 Gyr, consistent with the results of Pace et al. Our sample also exhibits a negative correlation between the stellar age and metallicity, a positive correlation between the stellar age and W space velocity component, and the W velocity dispersion increases with age. Finally, the population membership of these wide binaries is examined based upon their U, V, W kinematics, metallicity, and CA. We conclude that wide binaries are similar to field and cluster stars in these respects. More importantly, they span a much more continuous range in age and metallicity than is afforded by nearby clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

THE AGE, STELLAR CONTENT, AND STAR FORMATION TIMESCALE OF THE B59 DENSE CORE

We have investigated the stellar content of Barnard 59 (B59), the most active star-forming core in the Pipe Nebula. Using the SpeX spectrograph on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, we obtained moderate resolution, near-infrared (NIR) spectra for 20 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) in B59 and a representative sample of NIR and mid-IR bright sources distributed throughout the Pipe. Measuring luminosity and temperature sensitive features in these spectra, we identified likely background giant stars and measured each star's spectral type, extinction, and NIR continuum excess. To measure B59's age, we place its candidate YSOs in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and compare their location to YSOs in several well-studied star-forming regions, as well as predictions of pre-main-sequence (PMS) evolutionary models. We find that B59 is composed of late-type (K4-M6) low-mass (0.9-0.1 M{sub sun}) YSOs whose median stellar age is comparable to, if not slightly older than, that of YSOs within the {rho} Oph, Taurus, and Chameleon star-forming regions. Deriving absolute age estimates from PMS models computed by D'Antona et al., and accounting only for statistical uncertainties, we measure B59's median stellar age to be 2.6 {+-} 0.8 Myr. Including potential systematic effects increases the error budget for B59's median (DM98) stellar age to 2.6{sup +4.1}{sub -2.6} Myr. We also find that the relative age orderings implied by PMS evolutionary tracks depend on the range of stellar masses sampled, as model isochrones possess significantly different mass dependences. The maximum likelihood median stellar age we measure for B59, and the region's observed gas properties, suggests that the B59 dense core has been stable against global collapse for roughly six dynamical timescales and is actively forming stars with a star formation efficiency per dynamical time of {approx}6%. While the {approx}150% uncertainties associated with our age measurement propagate directly into these derived star formation timescales, the maximum likelihood values nonetheless agree well with recent star formation simulations that incorporate various forms of support against collapse, such as subcritical magnetic fields, outflows, and radiative feedback from protostellar heating.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

A REVISED AGE FOR UPPER SCORPIUS AND THE STAR FORMATION HISTORY AMONG THE F-TYPE MEMBERS OF THE SCORPIUS-CENTAURUS OB ASSOCIATION

We present an analysis of the ages and star formation history of the F-type stars in the Upper Scorpius (US), Upper Centaurus-Lupus (UCL), and Lower Centaurus-Crux (LCC) subgroups of Scorpius-Centaurus (Sco-Cen), the nearest OB association. Our parent sample is the kinematically selected Hipparcos sample of de Zeeuw et al., restricted to the 138 F-type members. We have obtained classification-resolution optical spectra and have also determined the spectroscopic accretion disk fraction. With Hipparcos and 2MASS photometry, we estimate the reddening and extinction for each star and place the candidate members on a theoretical H-R diagram. For each subgroup we construct empirical isochrones and compare to published evolutionary tracks. We find that (1) our empirical isochrones are consistent with the previously published age-rank of the Sco-Cen subgroups; (2) subgroups LCC and UCL appear to reach the main-sequence turn-on at spectral types {approx}F4 and {approx}F2, respectively. An analysis of the A-type stars shows US reaching the main sequence at about spectral type {approx}A3. (3) The median ages for the pre-main-sequence members of UCL and LCC are 16 Myr and 17 Myr, respectively, in agreement with previous studies, however we find that (4) Upper Sco is much older than previously thought. The luminosities of the F-type stars in US are typically a factor of {approx}2.5 less luminous than predicted for a 5 Myr old population for four sets of evolutionary tracks. We re-examine the evolutionary state and isochronal ages for the B-, A-, and G-type Upper Sco members, as well as the evolved M supergiant Antares, and estimate a revised mean age for Upper Sco of 11 {+-} 1 {+-} 2 Myr (statistical, systematic). Using radial velocities and Hipparcos parallaxes we calculate a lower limit on the kinematic expansion age for Upper Sco of >10.5 Myr (99% confidence). However, the data are statistically consistent with no expansion. We reevaluate the inferred masses for the known substellar companions in Upper Sco using the revised age and find that the inferred masses are typically {approx}20%-70% higher than the original estimates which had assumed a much younger age; specifically, we estimate the mass of 1RXS J1609-2105b to be 14{sup +2}{sub -3} M{sub Jup}, suggesting that it is a brown dwarf rather than a planet. Finally, we find the fraction of F-type stars exhibiting H{alpha} emission and/or a K-band excess consistent with accretion to be 0/17 (<19%; 95% CL) in US at {approx}11 Myr, while UCL has 1/41 (2{sup +5}{sub -1}%; 68% CL) accretors and LCC has 1/50 (2{sup +4}{sub -1}%; 68% CL) accretors at {approx}16 Myr and {approx}17 Myr, respectively.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

AGES AND METALLICITIES OF CLUSTER GALAXIES IN A779 USING MODIFIED STROeMGREN PHOTOMETRY

In the quest for the formation and evolution of galaxy clusters, Rakos and co-workers introduced a spectrophotometric method using modified Stroemgren photometry, but with the considerable debate toward the project's abilities, we re-introduce the system by testing for the repeatability of the modified Stroemgren colors and compare them with the Stroemgren colors, and check for the reproducibility of the ages and metallicities (using the Principle Component Analysis (PCA) technique and the GALEV models) for the six common galaxies in all three A779 data sets. As a result, a fair agreement between two filter systems was found to produce similar colors (with a precision of 0.09 mag in (uz - vz), 0.02 mag in (bz - yz), and 0.03 mag in (vz - vz)) and the generated ages and metallicities are also similar (with an uncertainty of 0.36 Gyr and 0.04 dex from PCA and 0.44 Gyr and 0.2 dex using the GALEV models). We infer that the technique is able to relieve the age-metallicity degeneracy by separating the age effects from the metallicity effects, but it is still unable to completely eliminate it. We further extend this paper to re-study the evolution of galaxies in the low mass, dynamically poor A779 cluster (as it was not elaborately analyzed by Rakos and co-workers in their previous work) by correlating the luminosity (mass), density, and radial distance with the estimated age, metallicity, and the star formation history. Our results distinctly show the bimodality of the young, low-mass, metal-poor population with a mean age of 6.7 Gyr ({+-} 0.5 Gyr) and the old, high-mass, metal-rich galaxies with a mean age of 9 Gyr ({+-} 0.5 Gyr). The method also observes the color evolution of the blue cluster galaxies to red (Butcher-Oemler phenomenon), and the downsizing phenomenon. Our analysis shows that modified Stroemgren photometry is very well suited for studying low- and intermediate-z clusters, as it is capable of observing deeper with better spatial resolution at spectroscopic redshift limits, and the narrowband filters estimate the age and metallicity with fewer uncertainties compared to other methods that study stellar population scenarios.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE EFFECTS OF ROTATION ON THE MAIN-SEQUENCE TURNOFF OF INTERMEDIATE-AGE MASSIVE STAR CLUSTERS

The double or extended main-sequence turnoffs (MSTOs) in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of intermediate-age massive star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud are generally interpreted as age spreads of a few hundred Myr. However, such age spreads do not exist in younger clusters (i.e., 40-300 Myr), which challenges this interpretation. The effects of rotation on the MSTOs of star clusters have been studied in previous works, but the results obtained are conflicting. Compared with previous works, we consider the effects of rotation on the main-sequence lifetime of stars. Our calculations show that rotating models have a fainter and redder MSTO with respect to non-rotating counterparts with ages between about 0.8 and 2.2 Gyr, but have a brighter and bluer MSTO when age is larger than 2.4 Gyr. The spread of the MSTO caused by a typical rotation rate is equivalent to the effect of an age spread of about 200 Myr. Rotation could lead to the double or extended MSTOs in the CMD of the star clusters with ages between about 0.8 and 2.2 Gyr. However, the extension is not significant, and it does not even exist in younger clusters. If the efficiency of the mixing were high enough, the effects of the mixing would counteract the effect of the centrifugal support in the late stage of evolution, and the rotationally induced extension would disappear in the old intermediate-age star clusters, but younger clusters would have an extended MSTO. Moreover, the effects of rotation might aid in understanding the formation of some 'multiple populations' in globular clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Stellar age spreads in clusters as imprints of cluster-parent clump densities

It has recently been suggested that high-density star clusters have stellar age distributions much narrower than that of the Orion Nebula Cluster, indicating a possible trend of narrower age distributions for denser clusters. We show this effect to likely arise from star formation being faster in gas with a higher density. We model the star formation history of molecular clumps in equilibrium by associating a star formation efficiency per free-fall time, ε{sub ff}, to their volume density profile. We focus on the case of isothermal spheres and we obtain the evolution with time of their star formation rate. Our model predicts a steady decline of the star formation rate, which we quantify with its half-life time, namely, the time needed for the star formation rate to drop to half its initial value. Given the uncertainties affecting the star formation efficiency per free-fall time, we consider two distinct values: ε{sub ff} = 0.1 and ε{sub ff} = 0.01. When ε{sub ff} = 0.1, the half-life time is of the order of the clump free-fall time, τ{sub ff}. As a result, the age distributions of stars formed in high-density clumps have smaller full-widths at half-maximum than those of stars formed in low-density clumps. When the star formation efficiency per free-fall time is 0.01, the half-life time is 10 times longer, i.e., 10 clump free-fall times. We explore what happens if the duration of star formation is shorter than 10τ{sub ff}, that is, if the half-life time of the star formation rate cannot be defined. There, we build on the invariance of the shape of the young cluster mass function to show that an anti-correlation between the clump density and the duration of star formation is expected. We therefore conclude that, regardless of whether the duration of star formation is longer than the star formation rate half-life time, denser molecular clumps yield narrower star age distributions in clusters. Published densities and stellar age spreads of young clusters and star-forming regions actually suggest that the timescale for star formation is of order 1-4τ{sub ff}. We also discuss how the age bin size and uncertainties in stellar ages affect our results. We conclude that there is no need to invoke the existence of multiple cluster formation mechanisms to explain the observed range of stellar age spreads in clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

BANYAN. IV. Fundamental parameters of low-mass star candidates in nearby young stellar kinematic groups—isochronal age determination using magnetic evolutionary models

Based on high-resolution optical spectra obtained with ESPaDOnS at Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we determine fundamental parameters (T {sub eff}, R, L {sub bol}, log g, and metallicity) for 59 candidate members of nearby young kinematic groups. The candidates were identified through the BANYAN Bayesian inference method of Malo et al., which takes into account the position, proper motion, magnitude, color, radial velocity, and parallax (when available) to establish a membership probability. The derived parameters are compared to Dartmouth magnetic evolutionary models and field stars with the goal of constraining the age of our candidates. We find that, in general, low-mass stars in our sample are more luminous and have inflated radii compared to older stars, a trend expected for pre-main-sequence stars. The Dartmouth magnetic evolutionary models show a good fit to observations of field K and M stars, assuming a magnetic field strength of a few kG, as typically observed for cool stars. Using the low-mass members of the β Pictoris moving group, we have re-examined the age inconsistency problem between lithium depletion age and isochronal age (Hertzspring-Russell diagram). We find that the inclusion of the magnetic field in evolutionary models increases the isochronal age estimates for the K5V-M5V stars. Using these models and field strengths, we derive an average isochronal age between 15 and 28 Myr and we confirm a clear lithium depletion boundary from which an age of 26 ± 3 Myr is derived, consistent with previous age estimates based on this method.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗