Potsdam Empirical Rotational Isochrones from CLustEr Stars (PERICLES)

PERICLES: A set of empirical rotational isochrones modeled on cool dwarfs in open clusters and wide binaries

by D. Gruner & S.A. Barnes (2025)

Abstract

Isochrones, equal-age curves, are widely used in astrophysics to estimate stellar ages. Classical stellar parameters are, however, very limited in their usability for main sequence stars because of their weak age-dependence. Here, rotation period measurements provide complementary information. We construct and present a set of rotational isochrones, named the Potsdam Empirical Rotational Isochrones from CLustEr Stars (PERICLES), that leverage rotation periods. They are constructed empirically using stars in well-studied open clusters and a small number of complementary field stars. The rotational isochrones span the main sequence stars from late-F type near the Kraft break to the fully-convective boundary around M3 stars, and are available for ages <= 6 Gyr. We also discuss a limitation to such color- or temperature based rotational isochrones, together with ideas to overcome it.

Data available download

pericles_isochrones_csv.zip : rotational isochrones as csv tables, one per isochrone age (in Myr, Delta t = 50 Myr) as indicated in the filename, each has three columns: the age (labeled Age in the table, constant in the isochrones), the Gaia G_BP-G_RP color (labeled BP_RP in the table), and the rotation period P_rot (labeled Prot in the table).

pericles_isochrones_fits.zip : rotational isochrones as fits tables, one per isochrone age (in Myr, Delta t = 50 Myr) as indicated in the filename, each has three columns: the age (labeled Age in the table, constant in the isochrones), the Gaia G_BP-G_RP color (labeled BP_RP in the table), and the rotation period P_rot (labeled Prot in the table).

pericles_tracks_csv.zip : isocolor lines (pseudo-tracks) as csv tables, one per color index (in Gaia G_BP-G_RP, Delta G_BP-G_RP = 0.01 mag) as indicated in the filename, each has three columns: the age (labeled Age in the table), the Gaia G_BP-G_RP color (labeled BP_RP in the table, constant in the isocolor lines), and the rotation period P_rot (labeled Prot in the table)

pericles_tracks_fits.zip : isocolor lines (pseudo-tracks) as csv tables, one per color index (in Gaia G_BP-G_RP, Delta G_BP-G_RP = 0.01 mag) as indicated in the filename, each has three columns: the age (labeled Age in the table), the Gaia G_BP-G_RP color (labeled BP_RP in the table, constant in the isocolor lines), and the rotation period P_rot (labeled Prot in the table)