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Article
A Bayesian Analysis of the Ages of Four Open Clusters
The Astrophysical journal
  • Elizabeth Jeffery, BYU
  • Ted von Hippel, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  • David A. van Dyk, Imperial College London
  • David C. Stenning, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris
  • Elliot Robinson, Argiope Technical Solutions
  • Nathan Sten, University of Pennsylvania
  • William H. Jefferys, University of Texas, Austin
Submitting Campus
Daytona Beach
Department
Physical Sciences
Document Type
Article
Publication/Presentation Date
10-1-2018
Abstract/Description

In this paper we apply a Bayesian technique to determine the best fit of stellar evolution models to find the main sequence turn off age and other cluster parameters of four intermediate-age open clusters: NGC 2360, NGC 2477, NGC 2660, and NGC 3960. Our algorithm utilizes a Markov chain Monte Carlo technique to fit these various parameters, objectively finding the best-fit isochrone for each cluster. The result is a high-precision isochrone fit. We compare these results with the those of traditional “by-eye” isochrone fitting methods. By applying this Bayesian technique to NGC 2360, NGC 2477, NGC 2660, and NGC 3960, we determine the ages of these clusters to be 1.35 ± 0.05, 1.02 ± 0.02, 1.64 ± 0.04, and 0.860 ± 0.04 Gyr, respectively. The results of this paper continue our effort to determine cluster ages to higher precision than that offered by these traditional methods of isochrone fitting.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/828/2/79
Publisher
The American Astronomical Society, The Institute of Physics
Citation Information
Elizabeth Jeffery, Ted von Hippel, David A. van Dyk, David C. Stenning, et al.. "A Bayesian Analysis of the Ages of Four Open Clusters" The Astrophysical journal Vol. 828 Iss. 2 (2018)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ted-vonhippel/26/