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Gyrochronology is a method for estimating the age of a low-mass (cool) main sequence star (spectral class F8 V or later) from its rotation period. The term is derived from the Greek words gyros, chronos and logos, roughly translated as rotation, age, and study respectively. It was coined in 2003 by Sydney Barnes[1] to describe the associated procedure for deriving stellar ages, and developed extensively in empirical form in 2007.[2]
Gyrochronology builds on a work of Andrew Skumanich,[3] who found that the average value of (v sin i) for several open clusters was inversely proportional to the square root of the cluster's age. In the expression (v sin i), (v) is the velocity on the star's equator and (i) is the inclination angle of the star's axis of rotation, which is generally an unmeasurable quantity. The gyrochronology method depends on the relationship between the rotation period and the mass of low mass main-sequence stars of the same age, which was verified by early work on the Hyades open cluster.[4] The associated age estimate for a star is known as the gyrochronological age.
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