Measurement of acoustic glitches in solar-type stars from oscillation frequencies observed by Kepler

Journal Article · Mon Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/782/1/18· OSTI ID:22348052

Mazumdar, A. ^[1]; Cunha, M. S. ^[2]; Ballot, J. ^[3]; Antia, H. M. ^[4]; Basu, S. ^[5]; Houdek, G.; Silva Aguirre, V.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Metcalfe, T. S. ^[6]; Mathur, S. ^[7]; García, R. A. ^[8]; Salabert, D. ^[9]; Verner, G. A.; Chaplin, W. J. ^[10]; Sanderfer, D. T. ^[11]; Seader, S. E.; Smith, J. C. ^[12]

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1. Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR, V. N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd, Mumbai 400088 (India)
2. Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal)
3. CNRS, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse (France)
4. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400005 (India)
5. Astronomy Department, Yale University, P.O. Box 208101, New Haven, CT 065208101 (United States)
6. Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark)
7. High Altitude Observatory, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 (United States)
8. Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, IRFU/SAp, Centre de Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)
9. Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, F-06304 Nice (France)
10. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom)
11. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)
12. SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)

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.

• OSTI ID: 22348052
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 782, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCURACY
CONVECTION
OSCILLATION MODES
OSCILLATIONS
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
STARS
SURFACES