A. Mazumdar

Ensemble asteroseismology of solar-type stars with the NASA Kepler mission.

Measurements of 500 Sun-like stars show that their properties differ from those predicted by stellar population models. In addition to its search for extrasolar planets, the NASA Kepler mission provides exquisite data on stellar oscillations. We report the detections of oscillations in 500 solar-type stars in the Kepler field of view, an ensemble that is large enough to allow statistical studies of intrinsic stellar properties (such as mass, radius, and age) and to test theories of stellar evolution. We find that the distribution of observed masses of these stars shows intriguing differences to predictions from models of synthetic stellar populations in the Galaxy.

PROPERTIES OF 42 SOLAR-TYPE KEPLER TARGETS FROM THE ASTEROSEISMIC MODELING PORTAL

Recently the number of main-sequence and subgiant stars exhibiting solar-like oscillations that are resolved into individual mode frequencies has increased dramatically. While only a few such data sets were available for detailed modeling just a decade ago, the Kepler mission has produced suitable observations for hundreds of new targets. This rapid expansion in observational capacity has been accompanied by a shift in analysis and modeling strategies to yield uniform sets of derived stellar properties more quickly and easily. We use previously published asteroseismic and spectroscopic data sets to provide a uniform analysis of 42 solar-type Kepler targets from the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal. We find that fitting the individual frequencies typically doubles the precision of the asteroseismic radius, mass, and age compared to grid-based modeling of the global oscillation properties, and improves the precision of the radius and mass by about a factor of three over empirical scaling relations. We demonstrate the utility of the derived properties with several applications.

MEASUREMENT OF ACOUSTIC GLITCHES IN SOLAR-TYPE STARS FROM OSCILLATION FREQUENCIES OBSERVED BY KEPLER

For the very best and brightest asteroseismic solar-type targets observed by Kepler, the frequency precision is sufficient to determine the acoustic depths of the surface convective layer and the helium ionization zone. Such sharp features inside the acoustic cavity of the star, which we call acoustic glitches, create small oscillatory deviations from the uniform spacing of frequencies in a sequence of oscillation modes with the same spherical harmonic degree. We use these oscillatory signals to determine the acoustic locations of such features in 19 solar-type stars observed by the Kepler mission. Four independent groups of researchers utilized the oscillation frequencies themselves, the second differences of the frequencies and the ratio of the small and large separation to locate the base of the convection zone and the second helium ionization zone. Despite the significantly different methods of analysis, good agreement was found between the results of these four groups, barring a few cases. These results also agree reasonably well with the locations of these layers in representative models of the stars. These results firmly establish the presence of the oscillatory signals in the asteroseismic data and the viability of several techniques to determine the location of acoustic glitches inside stars.

Old Puzzle, New Insights: A Lithium-rich Giant Quietly Burning Helium in Its Core

About 1% of giant stars have been shown to have large surface Li abundances, which is unexpected according to standard stellar evolution models. Several scenarios for lithium production have been proposed, but it is still unclear why these Li-rich giants exist. A missing piece in this puzzle is the knowledge of the exact stage of evolution of these stars. Using low- and-high-resolution spectroscopic observations, we have undertaken a survey of lithium-rich giants in the Kepler field. In this Letter, we report the finding of the first confirmed Li-rich core-helium-burning giant, as revealed by asteroseismic analysis. The evolutionary timescales constrained by its mass suggest that Li production most likely took place through non-canonical mixing at the RGB tip, possibly during the helium flash.

Fundamental properties of five Kepler stars using global asteroseismic quantities and ground-based observations

We present an asteroseismic study of the solar-like stars KIC 11395018, KIC 10273246, KIC 10920273, KIC 10339342, and KIC 11234888 using short-cadence time series of more than eight months from the Kepler satellite. For four of these stars, we derive atmospheric parameters from spectra acquired with the Nordic Optical Telescope. The global seismic quantities (average large frequency separation and frequency of maximum power), combined with the atmospheric parameters, yield the mean density and surface gravity with precisions of 2% and ∼0.03 dex, respectively. We also determine the radius, mass, and age with precisions of 2‐5%, 7‐11%, and ∼35%, respectively, using grid-based analyses. Coupling the stellar parameters with photometric data yields an asteroseismic distance with a precision better than 10%. A vsini measurement provides a rotational period-inclination correlation, and using the rotational periods from the recent literature, we constrain the stellar inclination for three of the stars. An Li abundance analysis yields an independent estimate of the age, but this is inconsistent with the asteroseismically determined age for one of the stars. We assess the performance of five grid-based analysis methods and find them all to provide consistent values of the surface gravity to ∼0.03 dex when both atmospheric and seismic constraints are at hand. The different grid-based analyses all yield fitted values of radius and mass to within 2.4σ, and taking the mean of these results reduces it to 1.5σ. The absence of a metallicity constraint when the average large frequency separation is measured with a precision of 1% biases the fitted radius and mass for the stars with non-solar metallicity (metal-rich KIC 11395018 and metal-poor KIC 10273246), while including a metallicity constraint reduces the uncertainties in both of these parameters by almost a factor of two. We found that including the average small frequency separation improves the determination of the age only for KIC 11395018 and KIC 11234888, and for the latter this improvement was due to the lack of strong atmospheric constraints.

Asteroseismic estimate of helium abundance of a solar analog binary system

16 Cyg A and B are among the brightest stars observed by Kepler. What makes these stars more interesting is that they are solar analogs. 16 Cyg A and B exhibit solar-like oscillations. In this work we use oscillation frequencies obtained using 2.5 yr of Kepler data to determine the current helium abundance of these stars. For this we use the fact that the helium ionization zone leaves a signature on the oscillation frequencies and that this signature can be calibrated to determine the helium abundance of that layer. By calibrating the signature of the helium ionization zone against models of known helium abundance, the helium abundance in the envelope of 16 Cyg A is found to lie in the range of 0.231 to 0.251 and that of 16 Cyg B lies in the range of 0.218 to 0.266.

Tests of the asymptotic large frequency separation of acoustic oscillations in solar-type and red-giant stars

Asteroseismology, i.e. the study of the internal structures of stars via their global oscillations, is a valuable tool to obtain stellar parameters such as mass, radius, surface gravity and mean density. These parameters can be obtained using certain scaling relations which are based on an asymptotic approximation. Usually the observed oscillation parameters are assumed to follow these scaling relations. Recently, it has been questioned whether this is a valid approach, i.e. whether the order of the observed oscillation modes is high enough to be approximated with an asymptotic theory. In this work, we use stellar models to investigate whether the differences between observable oscillation parameters and their asymptotic estimates are indeed significant. We compute the asymptotic values directly from the stellar models and derive the observable values from adiabatic pulsation calculations of the same models. We find that the extent to which the atmosphere is included in the models is a key parameter. Considering a larger extension of the atmosphere beyond the photosphere reduces the difference between the asymptotic and observable values of the large frequency separation. Therefore, we conclude that the currently suggested discrepancies in the scaling relations might have been overestimated. Hence, based on the results presented here we believe that the suggestions of Mosser et al. should not be followed without careful consideration.

A multisite photometric study of two unusual β Cep stars: the magnetic V2052 Oph and the massive rapid rotator V986 Oph

We report a multisite photometric campaign for theCep stars V2052 Oph and V986 Oph. 670 hours of high-quality differential photoelectric Stromgren, Johnson and Geneva time-series photometry were obtained with eight telescopes on five continents during 182 nights. Frequency analyses of the V2052 Oph data enabled the detection of three pulsation frequencies, the first harmonic of the strongest signal, and the rotation frequency with its first harmonic. Pulsational mode identification from analysing the colour amplitude ratios confirms the dominant mode as being radial, whereas the other two oscillations are most likely l = 4. Combining seismic constraints on the inclination of the rotation axis with published magnetic field analyses we conclude that the radial mode must be the fundamental. The rotational light modulation is in phase with published spectroscopic variability, and consistent with an oblique rotator for which both magnetic poles pass through the line of sight. The inclination of the rotation axis is 54 ◦ < i < 58 ◦ and the magnetic obliquity 58 ◦ < � < 66 ◦ . The possibility that V2052 Oph has a magnetically confined wind is discussed. The photometric amplitudes of the single oscillation of V986 Oph are most consistent with an l = 3 mode, but this identification is uncertain. Additional intrinsic, apparently temporally incoherent, light variations of V986 Oph are reported. Different interpretations thereof cannot be distinguished at this point, but this kind of variability appears to be present in many OB stars. The prospects of obtaining asteroseismic information for more rapidly rotatingCep stars, which appear to prefer modes of higher l, are briefly discussed.

Automated determination of g-mode period spacing of red giant stars

The Kepler satellite has provided photometric timeseries data of unprecedented length, duty cycle and precision. To fully analyse these data for the tens of thousands of stars observed by Kepler, automated methods are a prerequisite. Here we present an automated procedure to determine the period spacing of gravity modes in red-giant stars ascending the red-giant branch. The gravity modes reside in a cavity in the deep interior of the stars and provide information on the conditions in the stellar core. However, for red giants the gravity modes are not directly observable on the surface, hence this method is based on the pressure-gravity mixed modes that present observable features in the Fourier power spectrum. The method presented here is based on the vertical alignment and symmetry of these mixed modes in a period echelle diagram. We find that we can obtain reliable results for both model frequencies and observed frequencies. Additionally, we carried out Monte Carlo tests to obtain realistic uncertainties on the period spacings with different set of oscillation modes (for the models) and uncertainties on the frequencies. Furthermore, this method has been used to improve mode detection and identification of the observed frequencies in an iterative manner.

Seismic Measurement of the Locations of the Base of Convection Zone and Helium Ionization Zone for Stars in the Kepler Seismic LEGACY Sample

Acoustic glitches are regions inside a star where the sound speed or its derivatives change abruptly. These leave a small characteristic oscillatory signature in the stellar oscillation frequencies. With the precision achieved by Kepler seismic data, it is now possible to extract these small amplitude oscillatory signatures, and infer the locations of the glitches. We perform glitch analysis for all the 66 stars in the Kepler seismic LEGACY sample to derive the locations of the base of the envelope convection zone and the helium ionization zone. The signature from helium ionization zone is found to be robust for all stars in the sample, whereas the convection zone signature is found to be weak and problematic, particularly for relatively massive stars with large errorbars on the oscillation frequencies. We demonstrate that the helium glitch signature can be used to constrain the properties of the helium ionization layers and the helium abundance. Subject headings: stars: fundamental parameters — stars: interiors — stars: oscillations — stars: solar-type