The RACE-OC project: Rotation and Activity Evolution in Open Clusters

Abstract

The RACE‐OC project, standing for Rotation and Activity Evolution in Open Clusters, is a long‐term project aimed at studying the evolution of rotation and magnetic activity of late‐type members of stellar open clusters. Magnetic fields play a fundamental role in altering the rotational properties of late‐type stars. They are responsible, e.g., for angular momentum loss in the wind or its redistribution in the stellar interior. Magnetic fields in late‐type stars and their related phenomena, such as photospheric cool spots and bright faculae, chromospheric plages, and X‐ray emission, in turn depend on the stellar rotation which controls the efficiency of the hydromagnetic dynamo. Thus, the evolution of angular momentum and magnetic activity offer complementary approaches to understanding the mechanisms by which rotation and magnetic fields influence each other in late‐type stars.