Stellar Cruise Control: Weakened Magnetic Braking Leads to Sustained Rapid Rotation of Old Stars

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 962; no. 2; pp. 138 - 152
• Main Authors: Saunders, Nicholas, van Saders, Jennifer L., Lyttle, Alexander J., Metcalfe, Travis S., Li, Tanda, Davies, Guy R., Hall, Oliver J., Ball, Warrick H., Townsend, Richard, Creevey, Orlagh, Dodds, Curt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01-02-2024; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Asteroseismology; Astronomical models; Braking; Cruise control; Neural networks; Rossby number; Solar analogs; Stars; Starspots; Stellar ages; Stellar evolution; Stellar magnetic fields; Stellar models; Stellar properties; Stellar rotation; Stellar seismology
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad1516

Abstract
Despite a growing sample of precisely measured stellar rotation periods and ages, the strength of magnetic braking and the degree of departure from standard (Skumanich-like) spin-down have remained persistent questions, particularly for stars more evolved than the Sun. Rotation periods can be measured for stars older than the Sun by leveraging asteroseismology, enabling models to be tested against a larger sample of old field stars. Because asteroseismic measurements of rotation do not depend on starspot modulation, they avoid potential biases introduced by the need for a stellar dynamo to drive starspot production. Using a neural network trained on a grid of stellar evolution models and a hierarchical model-fitting approach, we constrain the onset of weakened magnetic braking (WMB). We find that a sample of stars with asteroseismically measured rotation periods and ages is consistent with models that depart from standard spin-down prior to reaching the evolutionary stage of the Sun. We test our approach using neural networks trained on model grids produced by separate stellar evolution codes with differing physical assumptions and find that the choices of grid physics can influence the inferred properties of the braking law. We identify the normalized critical Rossby number Ro
crit
/Ro
⊙
= 0.91 ± 0.03 as the threshold for the departure from standard rotational evolution. This suggests that WMB poses challenges to gyrochronology for roughly half of the main-sequence lifetime of Sun-like stars.