  Tidal friction has long been recognized to circularize the orbits of binary
stars over time. In this study, we use the observed distribution of orbital
eccentricities in populations of binary stars to probe tidal dissipation. In
contrast to previous studies, we incorporate a host of physical effects often
neglected in other analyses, provide a much more general description of tides,
model individual systems in detail (in lieu of population statistics), and
account for all observational uncertainties. The goal is to provide a reliable
measurement of the properties of tidal dissipation that is fully supported by
the data, properly accounts for different dissipation affecting each tidal wave
on each object separately, and evolves with the internal structure of the
stars. We extract high precision measurements of tidal dissipation in short
period binaries of Sun-like stars in three open clusters. We find that the
tidal quality factor on the main sequence falls in the range $5.7 <
\log_{10}Q_\star' < 6$ for tidal periods between 3 and 7.5 days. In contrast,
the observed circularization in the 150 Myr old M 35 cluster requires that
pre-main sequence stars are much more dissipative: $Q_\star' < 4\times10^4$. We
test for frequency dependence of the tidal dissipation, finding that for tidal
periods between 3 and 7.5 days, if a dependence exists, it is sub-linear for
main-sequence stars. Furthermore, by using a more complete physical model for
the evolution, and by accounting for the particular properties of each system,
we alleviate previously observed tensions in the circularization in the open
clusters analyzed.

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;Astrophysics of Galaxies