389 research outputs found
Stochastic excitation of non-radial modes I. High-angular-degree p modes
Turbulent motions in stellar convection zones generate acoustic energy, part
of which is then supplied to normal modes of the star. Their amplitudes result
from a balance between the efficiencies of excitation and damping processes in
the convection zones. We develop a formalism that provides the excitation rates
of non-radial global modes excited by turbulent convection. As a first
application, we estimate the impact of non-radial effects on excitation rates
and amplitudes of high-angular-degree modes which are observed on the Sun. A
model of stochastic excitation by turbulent convection has been developed to
compute the excitation rates, and it has been successfully applied to solar
radial modes (Samadi & Goupil 2001, Belkacem et al. 2006b). We generalize this
approach to the case of non-radial global modes. This enables us to estimate
the energy supplied to high-() acoustic modes. Qualitative arguments as
well as numerical calculations are used to illustrate the results. We find that
non-radial effects for modes are non-negligible:
- for high- modes (i.e. typically ) and for high values of ;
the power supplied to the oscillations depends on the mode inertia.
- for low- modes, independent of the value of , the excitation is
dominated by the non-diagonal components of the Reynolds stress term. We
carried out a numerical investigation of high- modes and we find that
the validity of the present formalism is limited to due to the
spatial separation of scale assumption. Thus, a model for very high-
-mode excitation rates calls for further theoretical developments, however
the formalism is valid for solar modes, which will be investigated in a
paper in preparation.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in A&
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
Solar-like oscillations in massive main-sequence stars. I. Asteroseismic signatures of the driving and damping regions
Motivated by the recent detection of stochastically excited modes in the
massive star V1449 Aql (Belkacem et al., 2009b), already known to be a
Cephei, we theoretically investigate the driving by turbulent convection. By
using a full non-adiabatic computation of the damping rates, together with a
computation of the energy injection rates, we provide an estimate of the
amplitudes of modes excited by both the convective region induced by the iron
opacity bump and the convective core. Despite uncertainties in the dynamical
properties of such convective regions, we demonstrate that both are able to
efficiently excite modes above the CoRoT observational threshold and the
solar amplitudes. In addition, we emphasise the potential asteroseismic
diagnostics provided by each convective region, which we hope will help to
identify the one responsible for solar-like oscillations, and to give
constraints on this convective zone. A forthcoming work will be dedicated to an
extended investigation of the likelihood of solar-like oscillations across the
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures, accepter in A&
The underlying physical meaning of the relation
Asteroseismology of stars that exhibit solar-like oscillations are enjoying a
growing interest with the wealth of observational results obtained with the
CoRoT and Kepler missions. In this framework, scaling laws between
asteroseismic quantities and stellar parameters are becoming essential tools to
study a rich variety of stars. However, the physical underlying mechanisms of
those scaling laws are still poorly known. Our objective is to provide a
theoretical basis for the scaling between the frequency of the maximum in the
power spectrum () of solar-like oscillations and the cut-off
frequency (). Using the SoHO GOLF observations together with
theoretical considerations, we first confirm that the maximum of the height in
oscillation power spectrum is determined by the so-called \emph{plateau} of the
damping rates. The physical origin of the plateau can be traced to the
destabilizing effect of the Lagrangian perturbation of entropy in the
upper-most layers which becomes important when the modal period and the local
thermal relaxation time-scale are comparable. Based on this analysis, we then
find a linear relation between and , with a
coefficient that depends on the ratio of the Mach number of the exciting
turbulence to the third power to the mixing-length parameter.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures. Accepted in A&
Analysis of MERCATOR data Part I: variable B stars
We re-classified 31 variable B stars which were observed more than 50 times
in the Geneva photometric system with the P7 photometer attached to the
MERCATOR telescope (La Palma) during its first 3 years of scientific
observations. HD89688 is a possible beta Cephei/slowly pulsating B star hybrid
and the main mode of the COROT target HD180642 shows non-linear effects. The
Maia candidates are re-classified as either ellipsoidal variables or spotted
stars. Although the mode identification is still ongoing, all the
well-identified modes so far have a degree l = 0, 1 or 2.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in: Proceedings of JENAM 2005 'Distant
worlds', Communications in Asteroseismolog
Angular momentum redistribution by mixed modes in evolved low-mass stars. I. Theoretical formalism
Seismic observations by the space-borne mission \emph{Kepler} have shown that
the core of red giant stars slows down while evolving, requiring an efficient
physical mechanism to extract angular momentum from the inner layers. Current
stellar evolution codes fail to reproduce the observed rotation rates by
several orders of magnitude, and predict a drastic spin-up of red giant cores
instead. New efficient mechanisms of angular momentum transport are thus
required.
In this framework, our aim is to investigate the possibility that mixed modes
extract angular momentum from the inner radiative regions of evolved low-mass
stars. To this end, we consider the Transformed Eulerian Mean (TEM) formalism,
introduced by Andrews \& McIntyre (1978), that allows us to consider the
combined effect of both the wave momentum flux in the mean angular momentum
equation and the wave heat flux in the mean entropy equation as well as their
interplay with the meridional circulation.
In radiative layers of evolved low-mass stars, the quasi-adiabatic
approximation, the limit of slow rotation, and the asymptotic regime can be
applied for mixed modes and enable us to establish a prescription for the wave
fluxes in the mean equations. The formalism is finally applied to a benchmark model, representative of observed CoRoT and \emph{Kepler}
oscillating evolved stars.
We show that the influence of the wave heat flux on the mean angular momentum
is not negligible and that the overall effect of mixed modes is to extract
angular momentum from the innermost region of the star. A quantitative and
accurate estimate requires realistic values of mode amplitudes. This is
provided in a companion paper.Comment: Accepted in A&A, 11 pages, and 6 figure
Angular momentum redistribution by mixed modes in evolved low-mass stars. II. Spin-down of the core of red giants induced by mixed modes
The detection of mixed modes in subgiants and red giants by the CoRoT and
\emph{Kepler} space-borne missions allows us to investigate the internal
structure of evolved low-mass stars. In particular, the measurement of the mean
core rotation rate as a function of the evolution places stringent constraints
on the physical mechanisms responsible for the angular momentum redistribution
in stars. It showed that the current stellar evolution codes including the
modelling of rotation fail to reproduce the observations. An additional
physical process that efficiently extracts angular momentum from the core is
thus necessary.
Our aim is to assess the ability of mixed modes to do this. To this end, we
developed a formalism that provides a modelling of the wave fluxes in both the
mean angular momentum and the mean energy equations in a companion paper. In
this article, mode amplitudes are modelled based on recent asteroseismic
observations, and a quantitative estimate of the angular momentum transfer is
obtained. This is performed for a benchmark model of 1.3 at three
evolutionary stages, representative of the evolved pulsating stars observed by
CoRoT and Kepler.
We show that mixed modes extract angular momentum from the innermost regions
of subgiants and red giants. However, this transport of angular momentum from
the core is unlikely to counterbalance the effect of the core contraction in
subgiants and early red giants. In contrast, for more evolved red giants, mixed
modes are found efficient enough to balance and exceed the effect of the core
contraction, in particular in the hydrogen-burning shell. Our results thus
indicate that mixed modes are a promising candidate to explain the observed
spin-down of the core of evolved red giants, but that an other mechanism is to
be invoked for subgiants and early red giants.Comment: Accepted in A&A, 7 pages, 8 figure
The CoRoT target HD 49933: 2- Comparison of theoretical mode amplitudes with observations
From the seismic data obtained by CoRoT for the star HD 49933 it is possible,
as for the Sun, to constrain models of the excitation of acoustic modes by
turbulent convection. We compare a stochastic excitation model described in
Paper I (arXiv:0910.4027) with the asteroseismology data for HD 49933, a star
that is rather metal poor and significantly hotter than the Sun. Using the mode
linewidths measured by CoRoT for HD 49933 and the theoretical mode excitation
rates computed in Paper I, we derive the expected surface velocity amplitudes
of the acoustic modes detected in HD 49933. Using a calibrated quasi-adiabatic
approximation relating the mode amplitudes in intensity to those in velocity,
we derive the expected values of the mode amplitude in intensity. Our amplitude
calculations are within 1-sigma error bars of the mode surface velocity
spectrum derived with the HARPS spectrograph. The same is found with the mode
amplitudes in intensity derived for HD 49933 from the CoRoT data. On the other
hand, at high frequency, our calculations significantly depart from the CoRoT
and HARPS measurements. We show that assuming a solar metal abundance rather
than the actual metal abundance of the star would result in a larger
discrepancy with the seismic data. Furthermore, calculations that assume the
``new'' solar chemical mixture are in better agreement with the seismic data
than those that assume the ``old'' solar chemical mixture. These results
validate, in the case of a star significantly hotter than the Sun and Alpha Cen
A, the main assumptions in the model of stochastic excitation. However, the
discrepancies seen at high frequency highlight some deficiencies of the
modelling, whose origin remains to be understood.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures (B-W and color), accepted for publication in
Astronomy & Astrophysics. Corrected typo in Eq. (4). Updated references.
Language improvement
Periodic mass loss episodes due to an oscillation mode with variable amplitude in the hot supergiant HD50064
We aim to interpret the photometric and spectroscopic variability of the
luminous blue variable supergiant HD\,50064 ().CoRoT space photometry
and follow-up high-resolution spectroscopy, with a time base of 137\,d and
169\,d, respectively, was gathered, analysed and interpreted using standard
time series analysis and light curve modelling methods as well as spectral line
diagnostics.The space photometry reveals one period of 37\,d, which undergoes a
sudden amplitude change with a factor 1.6. The pulsation period is confirmed in
the spectroscopy, which additionally reveals metal line radial velocity values
differing by km\,s depending on the spectral line and on the
epoch. We estimate \teff13\,500\,K, \logg1.5 from the equivalent
width of Si lines. The Balmer lines reveal that the star undergoes episodes of
changing mass loss on a time scale similar to the changes in the photometric
and spectroscopic variability, with an average value of (in M\,yr). We tentatively interpret the 37\,d
period as due to a strange mode oscillation.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter
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