SFB 881 ‘Milky Way galaxy: Asteroseismic stellar parameters of open cluster stars’

The goals of this project are the following:

–  an in-depth characterization of the three Kepler open clusters (NGC 6791, 6811 and 6819) to obtain cluster parameters such as age and distance with the highest accuracy and precision, as well as determine additional parameters such as mass loss, and both present-day and initial helium abundances. 

– a derivation of cluster parameters with improved accuracy and precision compared to the current standard, by including asteroseismic constraints into our analysis. 

Different clusters (three from Kepler, three from K2 and of the order of a few tens of clusters from TESS) are located at different positions in the Galaxy. Through the study of the chemical compositions and dynamic motions of red giants of different masses, ages and evolutionary states in these clusters we will obtain insights on star formation and chemical evolution of the Milky Way, i.e. Galactic Archaeology. Additionally, based on the additional constraints that stars in a cluster are formed at the same time out of the same cloud of gas and dust, these stars may act as benchmark stars.