Establish whether an intrinsic age spread contributes to the lithium dispersion

Establish whether an intrinsic age spread among NGC 2264 members contributes materially to the observed dispersion in lithium equivalent widths, using independent age diagnostics that are not confounded by unresolved binaries, extinction errors, or starspots.

Background

The authors find no significant empirical relation between estimated stellar age and lithium-equivalent-width residuals. However, the ages inferred from the color–magnitude diagram may be biased by starspots and other effects, so the absence of a detected correlation does not definitively exclude a genuine age contribution.

Independent age diagnostics are therefore needed to determine whether the apparent age spread is intrinsic and whether it contributes to the remaining lithium dispersion not explained by the starspot model.

References

The effect of the age spread on the Li dispersion cannot be excluded but is unlikely to be the primary source of the observed dispersion in a heavily spotted population.

— The Contribution of Starspots to the Lithium Spread in NGC 2264  (2609.19653 - Luo et al., 17 Sep 2026) in Section 4.4, “Nondetection of correlations with age and gravity”