This Week at Physics |
||
| << Fall 2011 | Spring 2012 | Fall 2012 >> |
| Subscribe to receive email announcements of events | ||
Event Number 2589
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
- Astronomy Colloquium
- "A New Look at Stellar Evolution: Chi-by-Eye Evolves to Bayesian Statistics"
- Time: 3:30 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Ted von Hippel, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- Abstract: In the 1960's stars were observed with single-channel photometers or worse, stellar evolution codes were run on a computer that barely bested a slide rule, and the results were compared by eye. While the observations and stellar models have improved tremendously in the interim, the methods by which we compare stellar models to data generally have not. I will describe a new Bayesian approach to this problem. Our Bayesian technique yields better precision in the ages, distances, etc. for stars and clusters, provides a fuller understanding of errors and correlations among the derived parameters, and allows us to attack a range of problems in stellar evolution in a consistent manner for the first time.
- Host: Robert Mathieu, Chair of Astronomy
- Add this event to your calendar
- "A New Look at Stellar Evolution: Chi-by-Eye Evolves to Bayesian Statistics"