388 research outputs found
Asymptotic and measured large frequency separations
With the space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler, a large amount of
asteroseismic data is now available. So-called global oscillation parameters
are inferred to characterize the large sets of stars, to perform ensemble
asteroseismology, and to derive scaling relations. The mean large separation is
such a key parameter. It is therefore crucial to measure it with the highest
accuracy. As the conditions of measurement of the large separation do not
coincide with its theoretical definition, we revisit the asymptotic expressions
used for analysing the observed oscillation spectra. Then, we examine the
consequence of the difference between the observed and asymptotic values of the
mean large separation. The analysis is focused on radial modes. We use series
of radial-mode frequencies to compare the asymptotic and observational values
of the large separation. We propose a simple formulation to correct the
observed value of the large separation and then derive its asymptotic
counterpart. We prove that, apart from glitches due to stellar structure
discontinuities, the asymptotic expansion is valid from main-sequence stars to
red giants. Our model shows that the asymptotic offset is close to 1/4, as in
the theoretical development. High-quality solar-like oscillation spectra
derived from precise photometric measurements are definitely better described
with the second-order asymptotic expansion. The second-order term is
responsible for the curvature observed in the \'echelle diagrams used for
analysing the oscillation spectra and this curvature is responsible for the
difference between the observed and asymptotic values of the large separation.
Taking it into account yields a revision of the scaling relations providing
more accurate asteroseismic estimates of the stellar mass and radius.Comment: accepted in A&
Oscillating red giants in the CoRoT exo-field: Asteroseismic mass and radius determination
Context. Observations and analysis of solar-type oscillations in red-giant
stars is an emerging aspect of asteroseismic analysis with a number of open
questions yet to be explored. Although stochastic oscillations have previously
been detected in red giants from both radial velocity and photometric
measurements, those data were either too short or had sampling that was not
complete enough to perform a detailed data analysis of the variability. The
quality and quantity of photometric data as provided by the CoRoT satellite is
necessary to provide a breakthrough in observing p-mode oscillations in red
giants. We have analyzed continuous photometric time-series of about 11 400
relatively faint stars obtained in the exofield of CoRoT during the first 150
days long-run campaign from May to October 2007. We find several hundred stars
showing a clear power excess in a frequency and amplitude range expected for
red-giant pulsators. In this paper we present first results on a sub-sample of
these stars. Aims. Knowing reliable fundamental parameters like mass and radius
is essential for detailed asteroseismic studies of red-giant stars. As the
CoRoT exofield targets are relatively faint (11-16 mag) there are no (or only
weak) constraints on the star's location in the H-R diagram. We therefore aim
to extract information about such fundamental parameters solely from the
available time series. Methods. We model the convective background noise and
the power excess hump due to pulsation with a global model fit and deduce
reliable estimates for the stellar mass and radius from scaling relations for
the frequency of maximum oscillation power and the characteristic frequency
separation.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Comparison of High-degree Solar Acoustic Frequencies and Asymmetry between Velocity and Intensity Data
Using the local helioseismic technique of ring diagram we analyze the
frequencies of high--degree f- and p-modes derived from both velocity and
continuum intensity data observed by MDI. Fitting the spectra with asymmetric
peak profiles, we find that the asymmetry associated with velocity line
profiles is negative for all frequency ranges agreeing with previous
observations while the asymmetry of the intensity profiles shows a complex and
frequency dependent behavior. We also observe systematic frequency differences
between intensity and velocity spectra at the high end of the frequency range,
mostly above 4 mHz. We infer that this difference arises from the fitting of
the intensity rather than the velocity spectra. We also show that the frequency
differences between intensity and velocity do not vary significantly from the
disk center to the limb when the spectra are fitted with the asymmetric profile
and conclude that only a part of the background is correlated with the
intensity oscillations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa
Solar-like oscillations of semiregular variables
Oscillations of the Sun and solar-like stars are believed to be excited
stochastically by convection near the stellar surface. Theoretical modeling
predicts that the resulting amplitude increases rapidly with the luminosity of
the star. Thus one might expect oscillations of substantial amplitudes in red
giants with high luminosities and vigorous convection. Here we present evidence
that such oscillations may in fact have been detected in the so-called
semiregular variables, extensive observations of which have been made by
amateur astronomers in the American Association for Variable Star Observers
(AAVSO). This may offer a new opportunity for studying the physical processes
that give rise to the oscillations, possibly leading to further information
about the properties of convection in these stars.Comment: Astrophys. J. Lett., in the press. Processed with aastex and
emulateap
The universal red-giant oscillation pattern; an automated determination with CoRoT data
The CoRoT and Kepler satellites have provided thousands of red-giant
oscillation spectra. The analysis of these spectra requires efficient methods
for identifying all eigenmode parameters. The assumption of new scaling laws
allows us to construct a theoretical oscillation pattern. We then obtain a
highly precise determination of the large separation by correlating the
observed patterns with this reference. We demonstrate that this pattern is
universal and are able to unambiguously assign the eigenmode radial orders and
angular degrees. This solves one of the current outstanding problems of
asteroseismology hence allowing precise theoretical investigation of red-giant
interiors.Comment: Accepted in A&A letter
Rotational Splittings with CoRoT, Expected Number of Detections and Measurement Accuracy
One of the main goal of the CoRoT experiment is to determine the internal rotation of stars. A seismic measure of rotation requires the detection and an accurate measurement of rotational splittings. Our ability to achieve this goal with CoRoT observations depends on the properties of the target star (in short: spectral type and distance) and will be discussed
Amplitudes and lifetimes of solar-like oscillations observed by CoRoT* Red-giant versus main-sequence stars
Context. The advent of space-borne missions such as CoRoT or Kepler providing
photometric data has brought new possibilities for asteroseismology across the
H-R diagram. Solar-like oscillations are now observed in many stars, including
red giants and main- sequence stars. Aims. Based on several hundred identified
pulsating red giants, we aim to characterize their oscillation amplitudes and
widths. These observables are compared with those of main-sequence stars in
order to test trends and scaling laws for these parameters for both
main-sequence stars and red giants. Methods. An automated fitting procedure is
used to analyze several hundred Fourier spectra. For each star, a modeled
spectrum is fitted to the observed oscillation spectrum, and mode parameters
are derived. Results. Amplitudes and widths of red-giant solar-like
oscillations are estimated for several hundred modes of oscillation. Amplitudes
are relatively high (several hundred ppm) and widths relatively small (very few
tenths of a {\mu}Hz). Conclusions. Widths measured in main-sequence stars show
a different variation with the effective temperature than red giants. A single
scaling law is derived for mode amplitudes of both red giants and main-sequence
stars versus their luminosity to mass ratio. However, our results suggest that
two regimes may also be compatible with the observations.Comment: Accepted in A&A on 2011 February 8th, now includes corrections
(results now more precise on \Gamma and A_max in Section 4.3 and 4.4, fig. 7
corrected consequently
Close to Uniform Prime Number Generation With Fewer Random Bits
In this paper, we analyze several variants of a simple method for generating
prime numbers with fewer random bits. To generate a prime less than ,
the basic idea is to fix a constant , pick a
uniformly random coprime to , and choose of the form ,
where only is updated if the primality test fails. We prove that variants
of this approach provide prime generation algorithms requiring few random bits
and whose output distribution is close to uniform, under less and less
expensive assumptions: first a relatively strong conjecture by H.L. Montgomery,
made precise by Friedlander and Granville; then the Extended Riemann
Hypothesis; and finally fully unconditionally using the
Barban-Davenport-Halberstam theorem. We argue that this approach has a number
of desirable properties compared to previous algorithms.Comment: Full version of ICALP 2014 paper. Alternate version of IACR ePrint
Report 2011/48
Models of red giants in the CoRoT asteroseismology fields combining asteroseismic and spectroscopic constraints
Context. The availability of asteroseismic constraints for a large sample of
red giant stars from the CoRoT and Kepler missions paves the way for various
statistical studies of the seismic properties of stellar populations.
Aims. We use the first detailed spectroscopic study of 19 CoRoT red-giant
stars (Morel et al 2014) to compare theoretical stellar evolution models to
observations of the open cluster NGC 6633 and field stars.
Methods. In order to explore the effects of rotation-induced mixing and
thermohaline instability, we compare surface abundances of carbon isotopic
ratio and lithium with stellar evolution predictions. These chemicals are
sensitive to extra-mixing on the red-giant branch.
Results. We estimate mass, radius, and distance for each star using the
seismic constraints. We note that the Hipparcos and seismic distances are
different. However, the uncertainties are such that this may not be
significant. Although the seismic distances for the cluster members are self
consistent they are somewhat larger than the Hipparcos distance. This is an
issue that should be considered elsewhere. Models including thermohaline
instability and rotation-induced mixing, together with the seismically
determined masses can explain the chemical properties of red-giants targets.
However, with this sample of stars we cannot perform stringent tests of the
current stellar models. Tighter constraints on the physics of the models would
require the measurement of the core and surface rotation rates, and of the
period spacing of gravity-dominated mixed modes. A larger number of stars with
longer times series, as provided by Kepler or expected with Plato, would help
for ensemble asteroseismology.Comment: Accepted 03/05/201
The CoRoT target HD175726: an active star with weak solar-like oscillations
Context. The CoRoT short runs give us the opportunity to observe a large
variety of late-type stars through their solar-like oscillations. We report
observations of the star HD175726 that lasted for 27 days during the first
short run of the mission. The time series reveals a high-activity signal and
the power spectrum presents an excess due to solar-like oscillations with a low
signal-to-noise ratio. Aims. Our aim is to identify the most efficient tools to
extract as much information as possible from the power density spectrum.
Methods. The most productive method appears to be the autocorrelation of the
time series, calculated as the spectrum of the filtered spectrum. This method
is efficient, very rapid computationally, and will be useful for the analysis
of other targets, observed with CoRoT or with forthcoming missions such as
Kepler and Plato. Results. The mean large separation has been measured to be
97.2+-0.5 microHz, slightly below the expected value determined from solar
scaling laws.We also show strong evidence for variation of the large separation
with frequency. The bolometric mode amplitude is only 1.7+-0.25 ppm for radial
modes, which is 1.7 times less than expected. Due to the low signal-to-noise
ratio, mode identification is not possible for the available data set of
HD175726. Conclusions. This study shows the possibility of extracting a seismic
signal despite a signal-to-noise ratio of only 0.37. The observation of such a
target shows the efficiency of the CoRoT data, and the potential benefit of
longer observing runs.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted in A&
- …