JAPC - Using Open Clusters to Bridge the Lithium Gap

Speaker: Prof. Bruce Twarog, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas

Topic: "Using Open Clusters to Bridge the Lithium Gap"

Time: 2:00 PM, Friday, April 24th, 2009

Place: P-148 (refreshments will be served at 1:45 PM in P145A)

Abstract: Lithium plays a key role in constraining both cosmology and stellar structure. The stellar aspect is probed primarily through measures of the atmospheric Li abundance, used to define the rate of destruction as a function of time, stellar temperature, mass, and chemical composition. While the derived patterns agree qualitatively with the predictions of theory, the detailed rates are observed to be significantly larger than predicted and one feature, the Li-dip among hotter dwarfs, shouldn’t exist at all. Recent work on Li abundances in open clusters is reviewed to evaluate the temporal evolution of the Li-dip and determine what constraints, if any, can be placed on the atmospheric structure of stars within the dip.

Hosted by: Prof. Paul Etzel.

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