1,716 research outputs found
Period spacings in red giants II. Automated measurement
The space missions CoRoT and Kepler have provided photometric data of
unprecedented quality for asteroseismology. A very rich oscillation pattern has
been discovered for red giants, including mixed modes that are used to decipher
the red giants interiors. They carry information on the radiative core of red
giant stars and bring strong constraints on stellar evolution. Since more than
15,000 red giant light curves have been observed by Kepler, we have developed a
simple and efficient method for automatically characterizing the mixed-mode
pattern and measuring the asymptotic period spacing. With the asymptotic
expansion of the mixed modes, we have revealed the regularity of the
gravity-mode pattern. The stretched periods were used to study the evenly space
periods with a Fourier analysis and to measure the gravity period spacing, even
when rotation severely complicates the oscillation spectra. We automatically
measured gravity period spacing for more than 6,100 Kepler red giants. The
results confirm and extend previous measurements made by semi-automated
methods. We also unveil the mass and metallicity dependence of the relation
between the frequency spacings and the period spacings for stars on the red
giant branch. The delivery of thousands of period spacings combined with all
other seismic and non-seismic information provides a new basis for detailed
ensemble asteroseismology.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure
On detecting the large separation in the autocorrelation of stellar oscillation times series
The observations carried out by the space missions CoRoT and Kepler provide a
large set of asteroseismic data. Their analysis requires an efficient procedure
first to determine if the star is reliably showing solar-like oscillations,
second to measure the so-called large separation, third to estimate the
asteroseismic information that can be retrieved from the Fourier spectrum. We
develop in this paper a procedure, based on the autocorrelation of the seismic
Fourier spectrum. We have searched for criteria able to predict the output that
one can expect from the analysis by autocorrelation of a seismic time series.
First, the autocorrelation is properly scaled for taking into account the
contribution of white noise. Then, we use the null hypothesis H0 test to assess
the reliability of the autocorrelation analysis. Calculations based on solar
and CoRoT times series are performed in order to quantify the performance as a
function of the amplitude of the autocorrelation signal. We propose an
automated determination of the large separation, whose reliability is
quantified by the H0 test. We apply this method to analyze a large set of red
giants observed by CoRoT. We estimate the expected performance for photometric
time series of the Kepler mission. Finally, we demonstrate that the method
makes it possible to distinguish l=0 from l=1 modes. The envelope
autocorrelation function has proven to be very powerful for the determination
of the large separation in noisy asteroseismic data, since it enables us to
quantify the precision of the performance of different measurements: mean large
separation, variation of the large separation with frequency, small separation
and degree identification.Comment: A&A, in pres
Period spacings in red giants I. Disentangling rotation and revealing core structure discontinuities
Asteroseismology allows us to probe the physical conditions inside the core
of red giant stars. This relies on the properties of the global oscillations
with a mixed character that are highly sensitive to the physical properties of
the core. However, overlapping rotational splittings and mixed-mode spacings
result in complex structures in the mixed-mode pattern, which severely
complicates its identification and the measurement of the asymptotic period
spacing. This work aims at disentangling the rotational splittings from the
mixed-mode spacings, in order to open the way to a fully automated analysis of
large data sets. An analytical development of the mixed-mode asymptotic
expansion is used to derive the period spacing between two consecutive mixed
modes. The \'echelle diagrams constructed with the appropriately stretched
periods are used to exhibit the structure of the gravity modes and of the
rotational splittings. We propose a new view on the mixed-mode oscillation
pattern based on corrected periods, called stretched periods, that mimic the
evenly spaced gravity-mode pattern. This provides a direct understanding of all
oscillation components, even in the case of rapid rotation. The measurement of
the asymptotic period spacing and the signature of the structural glitches on
mixed modes are then made easy. This work opens the possibility to derive all
seismic global parameters in an automated way, including the identification of
the different rotational multiplets and the measurement of the rotational
splitting, even when this splitting is significantly larger than the period
spacing. Revealing buoyancy glitches provides a detailed view on the radiative
core.Comment: Accepted in A&
IV.2 Pulsating red giant stars
This book is dedicated to all the people interested in the CoRoT mission and the beautiful data that were delivered during its six year duration. Either amateurs, professional, young or senior researchers, they will find treasures not only at the time of this publication but also in the future twenty or thirty years. It presents the data in their final version, explains how they have been obtained, how to handle them, describes the tools necessary to understand them, and where to find them. It also highlights the most striking first results obtained up to now. CoRoT has opened several unexpected directions of research and certainly new ones still to be discovered
Surface-effect corrections for solar-like oscillations using 3D hydrodynamical simulations
The space-borne missions have provided us with a wealth of high-quality
observational data that allows for seismic inferences of stellar interiors.
This requires the computation of precise and accurate theoretical frequencies,
but imperfect modeling of the uppermost stellar layers introduces systematic
errors. To overcome this problem, an empirical correction has been introduced
by Kjeldsen et al. (2008, ApJ, 683, L175) and is now commonly used for seismic
inferences. Nevertheless, we still lack a physical justification allowing for
the quantification of the surface-effect corrections. We used a grid of these
simulations computed with the COBOLD code to model the outer layers of
solar-like stars. Upper layers of the corresponding 1D standard models were
then replaced by the layers obtained from the horizontally averaged 3D models.
The frequency differences between these patched models and the 1D standard
models were then calculated using the adiabatic approximation and allowed us to
constrain the Kjeldsen et al. power law, as well as a Lorentzian formulation.
We find that the surface effects on modal frequencies depend significantly on
both the effective temperature and the surface gravity. We further provide the
variation in the parameters related to the surface-effect corrections using
their power law as well as a Lorentzian formulation. Scaling relations between
these parameters and the elevation (related to the Mach number) is also
provided. The Lorentzian formulation is shown to be more robust for the whole
frequency spectrum, while the power law is not suitable for the frequency
shifts in the frequency range above .Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysic
Theoretical power spectra of mixed modes in low mass red giant stars
CoRoT and Kepler observations of red giant stars revealed very rich spectra
of non-radial solar-like oscillations. Of particular interest was the detection
of mixed modes that exhibit significant amplitude, both in the core and at the
surface of the stars. It opens the possibility of probing the internal
structure from their inner-most layers up to their surface along their
evolution on the red giant branch as well as on the red-clump. Our objective is
primarily to provide physical insight into the physical mechanism responsible
for mixed-modes amplitudes and lifetimes. Subsequently, we aim at understanding
the evolution and structure of red giants spectra along with their evolution.
The study of energetic aspects of these oscillations is also of great
importance to predict the mode parameters in the power spectrum. Non-adiabatic
computations, including a time-dependent treatment of convection, are performed
and provide the lifetimes of radial and non-radial mixed modes. We then combine
these mode lifetimes and inertias with a stochastic excitation model that gives
us their heights in the power spectra. For stars representative of CoRoT and
Kepler observations, we show under which circumstances mixed modes have heights
comparable to radial ones. We stress the importance of the radiative damping in
the determination of the height of mixed modes. Finally, we derive an estimate
for the height ratio between a g-type and a p-type mode. This can thus be used
as a first estimate of the detectability of mixed-modes
Probing the core structure and evolution of red giants using gravity-dominated mixed modes observed with Kepler
We report for the first time a parametric fit to the pattern of the \ell = 1
mixed modes in red giants, which is a powerful tool to identify
gravity-dominated mixed modes. With these modes, which share the
characteristics of pressure and gravity modes, we are able to probe directly
the helium core and the surrounding shell where hydrogen is burning. We propose
two ways for describing the so-called mode bumping that affects the frequencies
of the mixed modes. Firstly, a phenomenological approach is used to describe
the main features of the mode bumping. Alternatively, a quasi-asymptotic
mixed-mode relation provides a powerful link between seismic observations and
the stellar interior structure. We used period \'echelle diagrams to emphasize
the detection of the gravity-dominated mixed modes. The asymptotic relation for
mixed modes is confirmed. It allows us to measure the gravity-mode period
spacings in more than two hundred red giant stars. The identification of the
gravity-dominated mixed modes allows us to complete the identification of all
major peaks in a red giant oscillation spectrum, with significant consequences
for the true identification of \ell = 3 modes, of \ell = 2 mixed modes, for the
mode widths and amplitudes, and for the \ell = 1 rotational splittings. The
accurate measurement of the gravity-mode period spacing provides an effective
probe of the inner, g-mode cavity. The derived value of the coupling
coefficient between the cavities is different for red giant branch and clump
stars. This provides a probe of the hydrogen-shell burning region that
surrounds the helium core. Core contraction as red giants ascend the red giant
branch can be explored using the variation of the gravity-mode spacing as a
function of the mean large separation.Comment: Accepted in A&
Asteroseismic surface gravity for evolved stars
Context: Asteroseismic surface gravity values can be of importance in
determining spectroscopic stellar parameters. The independent log(g) value from
asteroseismology can be used as a fixed value in the spectroscopic analysis to
reduce uncertainties due to the fact that log(g) and effective temperature can
not be determined independently from spectra. Since 2012, a combined analysis
of seismically and spectroscopically derived stellar properties is ongoing for
a large survey with SDSS/APOGEE and Kepler. Therefore, knowledge of any
potential biases and uncertainties in asteroseismic log(g) values is now
becoming important. Aims: The seismic parameter needed to derive log(g) is the
frequency of maximum oscillation power (nu_max). Here, we investigate the
influence of nu_max derived with different methods on the derived log(g)
values. The large frequency separation between modes of the same degree and
consecutive radial orders (Dnu) is often used as an additional constraint for
the determination of log(g). Additionally, we checked the influence of small
corrections applied to Dnu on the derived values of log(g). Methods We use
methods extensively described in the literature to determine nu_max and Dnu
together with seismic scaling relations and grid-based modeling to derive
log(g). Results: We find that different approaches to derive oscillation
parameters give results for log(g) with small, but different, biases for
red-clump and red-giant-branch stars. These biases are well within the quoted
uncertainties of ~0.01 dex (cgs). Corrections suggested in the literature to
the Dnu scaling relation have no significant effect on log(g). However somewhat
unexpectedly, method specific solar reference values induce biases of the order
of the uncertainties, which is not the case when canonical solar reference
values are used.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication by A&
Marjorie Mosser Correspondence
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