The relations between observable stellar parameters are usually assumed to be deterministic. That is, given an infinitely precise measurement of independent variable, “x”, and some model, the value of dependent variable, “y” can be known exactly. In practice this assumption is rarely valid and intrinsic stochasticity means that two stars with exactly the same “x” will have slightly different “y”s. The relation between short-timescale brightness fluctuations (flicker) of stars and both surface...

Among the available methods for dating stars, gyrochronology is a powerful one because it requires knowledge of only the star's mass and rotation period. Gyrochronology relations have previously been calibrated using young clusters, with the Sun providing the only age dependence, and are therefore poorly calibrated at late ages. We used rotation period measurements of 310 Kepler stars with asteroseismic ages, 50 stars from the Hyades and Coma Berenices clusters and 6 field stars (including th...

From pulsating stars to transiting exoplanets, the search for periodic signals in K2 data, Kepler’s two-wheeled extension, is relevant to a long list of scientific goals. Systematics affecting K2 light curves due to the decreased spacecraft pointing precision inhibit the easy extraction of periodic signals from the data. We here develop a method for producing periodograms of K2 light curves that are insensitive to pointing-induced systematics; the Systematics-insensitive Periodogram (SIP). Tr...