The Gaia-ESO survey: a lithium depletion boundary age for NGC 2232
Gilmore, G.; Bayo, A.; Franciosini, E.; Randich, S.; Bragaglia, A.; Korn, A. J.; Zaggia, S.; Jeffries, R. D.; Jofré, P.; Magrini, L.; Prisinzano, L.; Sacco, G. G.; Morbidelli, L.; Worley, C. C.; Bergemann, M.; Jackson, R. J.; Gonneau, A.; Hourihane, A.; Binks, A. S.; Arancibia-Silva, J.
United Kingdom, Italy, Chile, Germany, Sweden
Abstract
Astrometry and photometry from Gaia and spectroscopic data from the Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) are used to identify the lithium depletion boundary (LDB) in the young cluster NGC 2232. A specialized spectral line analysis procedure was used to recover the signature of undepleted lithium in very low luminosity cluster members. An age of 38 ± 3 Myr is inferred by comparing the LDB location in absolute colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) with the predictions of standard models. This is more than twice the age derived from fitting isochrones to low-mass stars in the CMD with the same models. Much closer agreement between LDB and CMD ages is obtained from models that incorporate magnetically suppressed convection or flux-blocking by dark, magnetic starspots. The best agreement is found at ages of 45-50 Myr for models with high levels of magnetic activity and starspot coverage fractions >50 per cent, although a uniformly high spot coverage does not match the CMD well across the full luminosity range considered.