Reassessing the Relationship Between Stellar X-ray Luminosity and Age with eROSITA Data Release 1

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Quiñones, Nadja Aldarondo, Jenkins, Sydney, Vanderburg, Andrew, Soares-Furtado, Melinda, McDonald, Michael A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Quiñones, Nadja Aldarondo
Jenkins, Sydney
Vanderburg, Andrew
Soares-Furtado, Melinda
McDonald, Michael A.
author_facet Quiñones, Nadja Aldarondo
Jenkins, Sydney
Vanderburg, Andrew
Soares-Furtado, Melinda
McDonald, Michael A.
contents Accurate stellar dating provides crucial information about the formation and development of planetary systems. Existing age-dating techniques are limited in terms of both the spectral type and age range they can accurately probe, and many are unreliable for stars older than 1 Gyr. Recent studies have suggested that a star's X-ray luminosity correlates strongly with stellar age and shows a steep fall-off at ages older than 1 Gyr. In this work, we present X-ray luminosity relationship values from eROSITA for four previously unassessed stars. Additionally, we reassess the X-ray luminosity/age relationship present in 24 main-sequence stars older than a gigayear. We confirm that a correlation does appear to exist between stellar age and X-ray luminosity at ages older than 1 Gyr. However, we measure a shallower slope with age than previous research for older stars, similar to what was found for younger stars. We also find evidence for significant astrophysical variability in a star's X-ray luminosity, which will likely limit the precision with which X-ray measurements can yield age estimates. We also find weak evidence for mass dependence in the X-ray luminosity/age relationship. These results suggest that although X-ray luminosity correlates with stellar age, it may not serve as a reliable standalone age indicator and is better used as part of a broader suite of age-dating methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_07630
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reassessing the Relationship Between Stellar X-ray Luminosity and Age with eROSITA Data Release 1
Quiñones, Nadja Aldarondo
Jenkins, Sydney
Vanderburg, Andrew
Soares-Furtado, Melinda
McDonald, Michael A.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Accurate stellar dating provides crucial information about the formation and development of planetary systems. Existing age-dating techniques are limited in terms of both the spectral type and age range they can accurately probe, and many are unreliable for stars older than 1 Gyr. Recent studies have suggested that a star's X-ray luminosity correlates strongly with stellar age and shows a steep fall-off at ages older than 1 Gyr. In this work, we present X-ray luminosity relationship values from eROSITA for four previously unassessed stars. Additionally, we reassess the X-ray luminosity/age relationship present in 24 main-sequence stars older than a gigayear. We confirm that a correlation does appear to exist between stellar age and X-ray luminosity at ages older than 1 Gyr. However, we measure a shallower slope with age than previous research for older stars, similar to what was found for younger stars. We also find evidence for significant astrophysical variability in a star's X-ray luminosity, which will likely limit the precision with which X-ray measurements can yield age estimates. We also find weak evidence for mass dependence in the X-ray luminosity/age relationship. These results suggest that although X-ray luminosity correlates with stellar age, it may not serve as a reliable standalone age indicator and is better used as part of a broader suite of age-dating methods.
title Reassessing the Relationship Between Stellar X-ray Luminosity and Age with eROSITA Data Release 1
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07630