IU Undergrad Isaac da Silva has just been awarded a TEAM-UP Together Scholarship by the Society of Physics Students, an organization of the American Institute of Physics. TEAM-UP partners include the American Astronomical Society and are sponsored by the Simons Foundation. Scholarships recognize students’ potential, intention, and commitment to continued academic development toward a bachelor’s degree in astronomy or physics. TEAM-UP’s goal is to double the number of Black bachelor’s degree earners in physics and astronomy by 2030.
Isaac participated in the 2023 Alice Palma Summer Undergraduate Research Experience program, working with Professor Caty Pilachowski. Over the summer, he used data from the Gaia space mission to identify members of the old open cluster star NGC 7789. Members were selected using parallax, proper motions, and radial velocities. Once members were identified, Isaac produced a color-magnitude diagram using Gaia photometry, to specifically select stars at the red clump phase of stellar evolution. These are stars that have completed their main sequence evolution and commenced helium fusion in their cores. We plan to observe these stars in October using the WIYN 3.5-m telescope at Kitt Peak in order to determine their lithium abundances. The goal is to test the hypothesis that stars produce new lithium when they transition from the red giant stage of evolution to the helium-burning red clump stage.
Isaac then used the Gaia photometry to obtain the temperatures and surface gravities of the stars. Once we obtain spectra of the clump giants, the stars’ temperatures and surface gravities will be used to compute synthetic spectra for each star to compare with the observed spectra to determine the lithium abundances of the clump stars.
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