Probing the evolutionary state of the very dusty star RZ Psc

The study of both early and late stages of stellar evolution benefits frominvestigations of stars orbited by dusty disks, as identified via thermalinfrared excesses above photospheric emission. Distinguishing between two verydifferent possibilities for the presence of such a disk star (and planet)birth vs. death can be surprisingly problematic in certain cases. One suchcase is RZ Psc. For decades the evolutionary status of this infraredbright,variable (antiflare) star has been ambiguous; both pre and postmainsequence models have been offered. We propose XMM observations that will supplyan important datum to break this evolutionary degeneracy. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]