Michaël Bazot
CAUP

Abstract
α Cen A is the closest star to the Sun and, as such, one of the most extensively studied. For stellar physicists, it remains a interesting subject of debate. In particular the mechanisms governing the transport of energy in the innermost regions of the star have long been debated. In order to understand them properly, it is necessary to use the best observational constraints available to obtain precise values of the global stellar parameters: the mass, the age, the initial chemical composition,... This describes an inverse problem that I will cast in the Bayesian formalism. In order to solve this problem I suggest using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. I will show that this approach allows to efficiently constrain the stellar parameters and, as a consequence, to discuss the possibility of convective energy transport at the center of α Cen A.

24 October 2012, 13:30

Centro de Astrofísica
Rua das Estrelas
4150-762 Porto