Asteroseismology of exoplanets host stars: the special case of ι\iota Horologii (HD17051)

{This paper presents detailed analysis and modelisation of the star HD17051 (alias $\iota$ Hor), which appears as a specially interesting case among exoplanet host stars. As most of these stars, $\iota$ Hor presents a metallicity excess which has been measured by various observers who give different results, ranging from [Fe/H] = 0.11 to 0.26, associated with different atmospheric parameters. Meanwhile the luminosity of the star may be determined owing to Hipparcos parallax. Although in the southern hemisphere, this star belongs to the Hyades stream and its external parameters show that it could even be one of the Hyades stars ejected during cluster formation. The aim of this work was to gather and analyse our present knowledge on this star and to prepare seismic tests for future observations with the HARPS spectrometer (planned for November 2006).} {We have computed evolutionary tracks with various metallicities, in the two frameworks of primordial overmetallicity and accretion. We have concentrated on models inside the error boxes given by the various observers in the log g - log T$_{eff}$ diagram. We then computed the adiabatic oscillation frequencies of these models to prepare future observations.} {The detailed analysis of $\iota$ Hor presented in this paper already allowed to constrain its external parameters, mass and age. Some values given in the literature could be rejected as inconsistent with the overall analysis. We found that a model computed with the Hyades parameters (age, metallicity) was clearly acceptable, but other ones were possible too. We are confident that observations with HARPS will allow for a clear conclusion about this star and that it will bring important new light on the physics of exoplanet host stars.}Comment: to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic

The CoRoT primary target HD 52265: models and seismic tests

HD 52265 is the only known exoplanet-host star selected as a main target for the seismology programme of the CoRoT satellite. As such, it will be observed continuously during five months, which is of particular interest in the framework of planetary systems studies. This star was misclassified as a giant in the Bright Star Catalog, while it is more probably on the main-sequence or at the beginning of the subgiant branch. We performed an extensive analysis of this star, showing how asteroseismology may lead to a precise determination of its external parameters and internal structure. We first reviewed the observational constraints on the metallicity, the gravity and the effective temperature derived from the spectroscopic observations of HD 52265. We also derived its luminosity using the Hipparcos parallax. We computed the evolutionary tracks for models of various metallicities which cross the relevant observational error boxes in the gravity-effective temperature plane. We selected eight different stellar models which satisfy the observational constraints, computed their p-modes frequencies and analysed specific seismic tests. The possible models for HD 52265, which satisfy the constraints derived from the spectroscopic observations, are different in both their external and internal parameters. They lie either on the main sequence or at the beginning of the subgiant branch. The differences in the models lead to quite different properties of their oscillation frequencies. We give evidences of an interesting specific behaviour of these frequencies in case of helium-rich cores: the ``small separations'' may become negative and give constraints on the size of the core. We expect that the observations of this star by the CoRoT satellite wi ll allow choosing between these possible models.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic

New seismic analysis of the exoplanet-host star Mu Arae

We present detailed modelling of the exoplanet-host star Mu Arae, using a new method for the asteroseismic analysis, and taking into account the new value recently derived for the Hipparcos parallax. The aim is to obtain precise parameters for this star and its internal structure, including constraints on the core overshooting. We computed new stellar models in a wider range than Bazot et al. (2005), with various chemical compositions ([Fe/H] and Y), with or without overshooting at the edge of the core. We computed their adiabatic oscillation frequencies and compared them to the seismic observations. For each set of chemical parameters, we kept the model which represented the best fit to the echelle diagram. Then, by comparing the effective temperatures, gravities and luminosities of these models with the spectroscopic error boxes, we were able to derive precise parameters for this star. First we find that all the models which correctly fit the echelle diagram have the same mass and radius, with an uncertainty of the order of one percent. Second, the final comparison with spectroscopic observations leads to the conclusion that besides its high metallicity, Mu Arae has a high helium abundance of the order of Y=0.3. Knowing this allows finding precise values for all the other parameters, mass, radius and age.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

The exoplanet-host star

Aims. We show that the exoplanet-host star iota Horologii, alias HD 17051, which belongs to the so-called Hyades stream, was formed within the primordial Hyades stellar cluster and has evaporated towards its present location, 40 pc away. Methods. This result has been obtained unambiguously by studying the acoustic oscillations of this star, using the HARPS spectrometer in La Silla Observatory (ESO, Chili). Results. Besides the fact that ι Hor belongs to the Hyades stream, we give evidence that it has the same metallicity, helium abundance, and age as the other stars of the Hyades cluster. They were formed together, at the same time, in the same primordial cloud. Conclusions. This result has strong implications for theories of stellar formation. It also indicates that the observed overmetallicity of this exoplanet-host star, about twice that of the Sun, is original and not caused by planet accretion during the formation of the planetary system