Introduction

This thesis by Cole Johnston brings novel insights into the inner workings of young massive stars. By bridging the observational fields of binary stars and asteroseismology, this thesis uses state of the art statistical techniques to scrutinise  theories of modern stellar astrophysics.

Methodology

Developing upon the commonly used isochrone fitting methodology, the author introduces the idea of isochrone cloud fitting in order to account for the full breadth of physics observed in stars. The author combines this methodology with gravity mode asteroseismic analysis to assess the level of chemical mixing deep within the stellar core in order to determine the star‘s age and core mass.

Analysis and Results

Wrapped into a robust statistical framework to account for correlations, this methodology is employed to analyse individual stars, multiple systems, and clusters alike to demonstrate that chemical mixing has dramatic impact on stellar structure and evolution.