While our new data do not push the study of rotation into new territory – rapid rotation at low stellar masses has been seen before – they do provide a larger statistical sample at low masses. The most important aspect of the data is that we have actual measures of v sin i, rather than just limits, for most low-mass stars in the Hyades. This provides us with the chance to explore the nature of and time scale for angular momentum loss over the age range sampled by the two clusters (≈ 110 to 600 Myr).
In particular, we pose this question: can we expect that the rotational distribution of low mass stars in the Pleiades will evolve to look like that of the Hyades when the former cluster is a factor of ≈ 5.5 older? If we can, then we provide independent support for the current paradigm employed in theoretical models of angular momentum evolution (Krishnamurthi et al. 1997, and references therein). If not, then we may be uncovering evidence that the conditions of early stellar evolution (initial angular momentum or lifetimes of stellar disks) differed in the two clusters, or that the current evolutionary paradigm is inadequate.