Isochrone-cloud fitting and asteroseismology of the Kepler open cluster NGC6866

TL;DR

This study compares isochrone-based and asteroseismic age estimates for the open cluster NGC 6866, revealing significant sensitivities to input physics and initial conditions in stellar modeling.

Contribution

Developed an isochrone-cloud fitting method that incorporates a range of input physics, and applied it alongside asteroseismology to better constrain cluster ages.

Findings

Isochrone ages vary significantly with input physics (690 vs. 467 Myr).

Asteroseismic and isochronal masses agree, but ages differ due to internal mixing.

Shared cluster age modelling yields an age of 759 Myr, aligning with one isochrone estimate.

Abstract

We investigate how isochrones computed with different input physics and initial conditions affect the age dating of the open cluster NGC 6866, and compare the results with asteroseismic ages derived from Kepler photometry. Using Gaia DR3 data, we identified 180 cluster members with a clustering algorithm. We then developed an isochrone-cloud fitting method that accounts for a range of free parameters in the input physics. Variable stars were subsequently identified among the cluster members. For 19 g-mode pulsators, we carried out modelling with a dedicated grid of rotating stellar models, constrained by spectroscopic and photometric parameters, the asymptotic gravity-mode period spacing, and the near-core rotation rate. We considered two cases: modelling each pulsator individually and modelling them under the assumption of a common cluster age. PARSEC and MIST isochrones yield discrepant ages of 690 and 467 Myr, respectively. The isochrone-cloud fit indicates an initial critical rotation distribution peaking at 0.6, about a factor of two higher than inferred from asteroseismology. The seismic modelling shows agreement between seismic and isochronal masses, but substantial differences in the derived ages due to differences in internal mixing. When the g-mode pulsators are modelled with a shared cluster age, we obtain 759 Myr, consistent with the PARSEC isochronal age. We conclude that age dating of open clusters is sensitive to the adopted input physics and initial conditions, highlighting the need for better calibrated stellar evolutionary models.