Program: GN-2017B-C-3

Lithium is a fragile element that is destroyed at a temperature of 2.5 MK in stellar interiors. The destruction rate scales with mixing processes, whose efficiency appears to depend on rotation. Indeed, a direct relationship has been reported between lithium content and rotational velocity for solar-type stars in the 100 Myr-old Pleiades cluster and, more recently, in the 5 Myr-old NGC 2264 star forming region. This lithium-rotation connection remains unaccounted for by stellar evolution models. Here, we aim at tracing its development during the pre-main sequence (PMS) evolution of solar-type stars. We thus have selected the 13 Myr-old h Per cluster, an ideal age step located at the end of the disk accretion stage and at the start of the PMS spin up phase. Having recently measured rotational periods for hundreds of low-mass stars in this cluster, we propose here to measure their lithium content. Specifically, we have selected a sample of K-type cluster members that are best suited for LiI 607.8nm equivalent width measurements with GMOS. This study will yield the first determination of the lithium content of young stars at this specific age and will provide new and unique constraints to the investigation of the origin and developmenet of the lithium-rotation connection in low-mass stars.