Comparisons for Esta-Task3: Cles and Cesam

We present the results of comparing three different implementations of the microscopic diffusion process in the stellar evolution codes CESAM and CLES. For each of these implementations we computed models of 1.0, 1.2 and 1.3 M$_{\odot}$. We analyse the differences in their internal structure at three selected evolutionary stages, as well as the variations of helium abundance and depth of the stellar convective envelope. The origin of these differences and their effects on the seismic properties of the models are also considered.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Joint HELAS and CoRoT/ESTA Workshop on Solar/Stellar Models and Seismic Analysis Tools, Novembre, Porto 2007 To be published in EAS Publications Serie

Modeling the HD32297 Debris Disk with Far-IR Herschel Data

HD32297 is a young A-star (~30 Myr) 112 pc away with a bright edge-on debris disk that has been resolved in scattered light. We observed the HD32297 debris disk in the far-infrared and sub-millimeter with the Herschel Space Observatory PACS and SPIRE instruments, populating the spectral energy distribution (SED) from 63 to 500{\mu}m. We aimed to determine the composition of dust grains in the HD32297 disk through SED modeling, using geometrical constraints from the resolved imaging to break degeneracies inherent in SED modeling. We found the best fitting SED model has 2 components: an outer ring centered around 110 AU, seen in the scattered light images, and an inner disk near the habitable zone of the star. The outer disk appears to be composed of grains > 2{\mu}m consisting of silicates, carbonaceous material, and water ice with an abundance ratio of 1:2:3 respectively and 90% porosity. These grains appear consistent with cometary grains, implying the underlying planetesimal population is dominated by comet-like bodies. We also discuss the 3.7{\sigma} detection of [C II] emission at 158{\mu}m with the Herschel PACS Spectrometer, making HD32297 one of only a handful of debris disks with circumstellar gas detected.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Calibrations of alpha Cen A & B

Detailed evolutionary models of the visual binary alpha Centauri, including pre main-sequence evolution, have been performed using the masses recently determined by Pourbaix et al. (1999). Models have been constructed using the CEFF equation of state, OPAL opacities, NACRE thermonuclear reaction rates and microscopic diffusion. A chi^2-minimization is performed to derive the most reliable set of modeling parameters wp={t_alpha Cen, Yi, [Fe/H]i, alpha A, alpha B}, where t alpha Cen is the age of the system, Yi the initial helium content, [Fe/H]i the initial metallicity and, alpha A and alpha B the convection parameters of the two components. Using the basic Bohm-Vitense (1958) mixing-length theory of convection, we derive wp BV={2710 Myr, 0.284,0.257, 1.53, 1.57}. We obtain a noticeably smaller age than estimated previously, in agreement with Pourbaix et al. (1999), mainly because of the larger masses. If convective core overshoot is considered we get wp ov={3530 Myr, 0.279,0.264,1.64,1.66}. The use of Canuto & Mazitelli (1991, 1992) convection theory leads to the set wp CM={4086 Myr, 0.271, 0.264, 0.964, 0.986}. Using the observational constraints adopted by Guenther & Demarque (2000), and the basic mixing-length theory, we obtain wp GD={5640 Myr, 0.300, 0.296, 1.86, 1.97} and surface lithium depletions close to their observed values. A seismological analysis of our calibrated models has been performed. The determination of large and small spacings between the frequencies of acoustic oscillations from seismic observations would help to discriminate between the models of alpha Cen computed with different masses and to confirm or rules out the new determination of masses.Comment: accepted for publication by A&

Effect of local treatments of convection upon the solar p-mode excitation rates

We compute, for several solar models, the rates P at which the solar radial p modes are expected to be excited. The solar models are computed with two different local treatments of convection : the classical mixing-length theory (MLT hereafter) and Canuto, Goldmann and Mazzitelli(1996, CGM hereafter)'s formulation. For one set of solar models (EMLT and ECGM models), the atmosphere is gray and assumes Eddington's approximation. For a second set of models (KMLT and KCGM models), the atmosphere is built using a T(tau) law which has been obtained from a Kurucz's model atmosphere computed with the same local treatment of convection. The mixing-length parameter in the model atmosphere is chosen so as to provide a good agreement between synthetic and observed Balmer line profiles, while the mixing-length parameter in the interior model is calibrated so that the model reproduces the solar radius at solar age. For the MLT treatment, the rates P do depend significantly on the properties of the atmosphere. On the other hand, for the CGM treatment, differences in P between the ECGM and the KCGM models are very small compared to the error bars attached to the seismic measurements. The excitation rates P for modes from the EMLT model are significantly under-estimated compared with the solar seismic constraints. The KMLT model results in intermediate values for P and shows also an important discontinuity in the temperature gradient and the convective velocity. On the other hand, the KCGM model and the ECGM model yield values for P closer to the seismic data than the EMLT and KMLT models. We conclude that the solar p-mode excitation rates provide valuable constraints and according to the present investigation cleary favor the CGM treatment with respect to the MLT.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the SOHO14/GONG 2004 workshop "Helio- and Asteroseismology: Towards a Golden Future" from July 12-16 2004 at New Haven CT (USA

Mode stability in delta Scuti stars: linear analysis versus observations in open clusters

A comparison between linear stability analysis and observations of pulsation modes in five delta Scuti stars, belonging to the same cluster, is presented. The study is based on the work by Michel et al. (1999), in which such a comparison was performed for a representative set of model solutions obtained independently for each individual star considered. In this paper we revisit the work by Michel et al. (1999) following, however, a new approach which consists in the search for a single, complete, and coherent solution for all the selected stars, in order to constrain and test the assumed physics describing these objects. To do so, refined descriptions for the effects of rotation on the determination of the global stellar parameters and on the adiabatic oscillation frequency computations are used. In addition, a crude attempt is made to study the role of rotation on the prediction of mode instabilities.The present results are found to be comparable with those reported by Michel et al. (1999). Within the temperature range log T_eff = 3.87-3.88 agreement between observations and model computations of unstable modes is restricted to values for the mixing-length parameter alpha_nl less or equal to 1.50. This indicates that for these stars a smaller value for alpha_nl is required than suggested from a calibrated solar model. We stress the point that the linear stability analysis used in this work still assumes stellar models without rotation and that further developments are required for a proper description of the interaction between rotation and pulsation dynamics.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables. (MNRAS, in press

Asteroseismology of delta Scuti stars in open clusters: Praesepe

The present paper provides a general overview of the asteroseismic potential of delta Scuti stars in clusters, in particular focusing on convection diagnostics. We give a summarise of the last results obtained by the authors for the Praesepe cluster of which five delta Scuti stars are analysed. In that work, linear analysis is confronted with observations, using refined descriptions for the effects of rotation on the determination of the global stellar parameters and on the adiabatic oscillation frequency computations. A single, complete, and coherent solution for all the selected stars is found, which lead the authors to find important restrictions to the convection description for a certain range of effective temperatures. Furthermore, the method used allowed to give an estimate of the global parameters of the selected stars and constrain the cluster.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Communications in Asteroseismolog

Influence of local treatments of convection upon solar p mode excitation rates

We compute the rates P at which acoustic energy is injected into the solar radial p modes for several solar models. The solar models are computed with two different local treatments of convection: the classical mixing-length theory (MLT hereafter) and Canuto et al (1996)'s formulation (CGM hereafter). Among the models investigated here, our best models reproduce both the solar radius and the solar luminosity at solar age and the observed Balmer line profiles. For the MLT treatment, the rates P do depend significantly on the properties of the atmosphere whereas for the CGM's treatment the dependence of P on the properties of the atmosphere is found smaller than the error bars attached to the seismic measurements. The excitation rates P for modes associated with the MLT models are significantly underestimated compared with the solar seismic constraints. The CGM models yield values for P closer to the seismic data than the MLT models. We conclude that the solar p-mode excitation rates provide valuable constraints and according to the present investigation clearly favor the CGM treatment with respect to the MLT, although neither of them yields values of P as close to the observations as recently found for 3D numerical simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Modelos poblacionales del gran ánsar nival: comparación entre distintos enfoques empleados para evaluar los impactos potenciales de la cosecha

Demographic models, which are a natural extension of capture–recapture (CR) methodology, are a powerful tool to guide decisions when managing wildlife populations. We compare three different modelling approaches to evaluate the effect of increased harvest on the population growth of Greater Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens atlantica). Our first approach is a traditional matrix model where survival was reduced to simulate increased harvest. We included environmental stochasticity in the matrix projection model by simulating good, average, and bad years to account for the large inter–annual variation in fecundity and first–year survival, a common feature of birds nesting in the Arctic. Our second approach is based on the elasticity (or relative sensitivity) of population growth rate (lambda) to changes in survival as simple functions of generation time. Generation time was obtained from the mean transition matrix based on the observed proportion of good, average and bad years between 1985 and 1998. If we assume that hunting mortality is additive to natural mortality, then a simple formula predicts changes in lambda as a function of changes in harvest rate. This second approach can be viewed as a simplification of the matrix model because it uses formal sensitivity results derived from population projection. Our third, and potentially more powerful approach, uses the Kalman Filter to combine information on demographic parameters, i.e. the population mechanisms summarized in a transition matrix model, and the census information (i.e. annual survey) within an overall Gaussian likelihood. The advantage of this approach is that it minimizes process and measured uncertainties associated with both the census and demographic parameters based on the variance of each estimate. This third approach, in contrast to the second, can be viewed as an extension of the matrix model, by combining its results with the independent census information.Los modelos demográficos, que son una ampliación natural de la metodología de captura–recaptura (CR), constituyen un excelente instrumento orientativo a la hora de decidir cómo gestionar las poblaciones de flora y fauna. Comparamos tres enfoques de modelos distintos para evaluar los efectos de una mayor cosecha en el crecimiento poblacional del ánsar nival (Chen caerulescens atlantica). Nuestro primer enfoque consiste en un modelo de matrices tradicional en el que se redujo la supervivencia a efectos de simular una mayor cosecha. Incluimos estocasticidad medioambiental en el modelo de proyección matricial simulando años buenos, medios y malos a efectos justificar la significativa variación interanual en la fecundidad y en la supervivencia durante el primer año, dado que constituyen una característica común de las aves que nidifican en el Ártico. Nuestro segundo enfoque se basa en la elasticidad (o sensibilidad relativa) de la tasa de crecimiento poblacional (lambda) con respecto a los cambios en la supervivencia como funciones simples del tiempo generacional. El tiempo generacional se obtuvo a partir de la matriz de transición media basada en la proporción observada de años buenos, medios y malos entre 1985 y 1998. Si suponemos que la mortalidad por caza se suma a la mortalidad natural, una fórmula simple predice cambios en la lambda como una función de cambios en la tasa de cosechas. El segundo enfoque puede considerarse como una simplificación del modelo de matrices, puesto que emplea resultados de sensibilidad formal derivados de la proyección poblacional. Nuestro tercer enfoque, de mayor alcance potencial, utiliza el filtro de Kalman para combinar información sobre parámetros demográficos; es decir, los mecanismos poblacionales resumidos en un modelo de matrices de transición, y la información censal (es decir, la inspección anual) en una probabilidad gaussiana general. La ventaja de este enfoque es que minimiza los procesos y las incertidumbres medidas que se asocian, tanto con el censo como con los parámetros demográficos basados en la varianza de cada estimación. El tercer enfoque, a diferencia del segundo, puede considerarse como una ampliación del modelo de matrices, combinando sus resultados con la información censal independiente