Context. Over the past 40 years, helioseismology has been enormously successful in the study of the solar interior. A shortcoming has been the lack of a convincing detection of the solar g modes, ...which are oscillations driven by gravity and are hidden in the deepest part of the solar body – its hydrogen-burning core. The detection of g modes is expected to dramatically improve our ability to model this core, the rotational characteristics of which have, until now, remained unknown. Aims. We present the identification of very low frequency g modes in the asymptotic regime and two important parameters that have long been waited for: the core rotation rate, and the asymptotic equidistant period spacing of these g modes. Methods. The GOLF instrument on board the SOHO space observatory has provided two decades of full-disk helioseismic data. The search for g modes in GOLF measurements has been extremely difficult because of solar and instrumental noise. In the present study, the p modes of the GOLF signal are analyzed differently: we search for possible collective frequency modulations that are produced by periodic changes in the deep solar structure. Such modulations provide access to only very low frequency g modes, thus allowing statistical methods to take advantage of their asymptotic properties. Results. For oscillatory periods in the range between 9 and nearly 48 h, almost 100 g modes of spherical harmonic degree 1 and more than 100 g modes of degree 2 are predicted. They are not observed individually, but when combined, they unambiguously provide their asymptotic period equidistance and rotational splittings, in excellent agreement with the requirements of the asymptotic approximations. When the period equidistance has been measured, all of the individual frequencies of each mode can be determined. Previously, p-mode helioseismology allowed the g-mode period equidistance parameter P0 to be bracketed inside a narrow range, between approximately 34 and 35 min. Here, P0 is measured to be 34 min 01 s, with a 1 s uncertainty. The previously unknown g-mode splittings have now been measured from a non-synodic reference with very high accuracy, and they imply a mean weighted rotation of 1277 ± 10 nHz (9-day period) of their kernels, resulting in a rapid rotation frequency of 1644 ± 23 nHz (period of one week) of the solar core itself, which is a factor 3.8 ± 0.1 faster than the rotation of the radiative envelope. Conclusions. The g modes are known to be the keys to a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of the solar core. Their detection with these precise parameters will certainly stimulate a new era of research in this field.
CoRoT and Kepler high-precision photometric data allowed the detection and characterization of the oscillation parameters in stars other than the Sun. Moreover, thanks to the scaling relations, it is ...possible to estimate masses and radii for thousands of solar-type oscillating stars. Recently, a Δν − ρ relation has been found for δ Scuti stars. Now, analysing several hundreds of this kind of stars observed with CoRoT and Kepler, we present an empiric relation between their frequency at maximum power of their oscillation spectra and their effective temperature. Such a relation can be explained with the help of the κ-mechanism and the observed dispersion of the residuals is compatible with they being caused by the gravity-darkening effect.
Context. The NASA Kepler mission has observed more than 190 000 stars in the constellations of Cygnus and Lyra. Around 4 years of almost continuous ultra high-precision photometry have been obtained ...reaching a duty cycle higher than 90% for many of these stars. However, almost regular gaps due to nominal operations are present in the light curves on different time scales. Aims. In this paper we want to highlight the impact of those regular gaps in asteroseismic analyses, and we try to find a method that minimizes their effect on the frequency domain. Methods. To do so, we isolate the two main time scales of quasi regular gaps in the data. We then interpolate the gaps and compare the power density spectra of four different stars: two red giants at different stages of their evolution, a young F-type star, and a classical pulsator in the instability strip. Results. The spectra obtained after filling the gaps in the selected solar-like stars show a net reduction in the overall background level, as well as a change in the background parameters. The inferred convective properties could change as much as ~200% in the selected example, introducing a bias in the p-mode frequency of maximum power. When asteroseismic scaling relations are used, this bias can lead to a variation in the surface gravity of 0.05 dex. Finally, the oscillation spectrum in the classical pulsator is cleaner than the original one.
The resonant scattering solar spectrophotometer ‘Mark-I’, designed and build at the University of Birmingham (UK) and located at the Observatorio del Teide (Spain), has been continuously in operation ...for the past 38 years. During this period of time, it has provided high-precision measurements of the radial velocity of the Sun as a star, which has enabled the study of the small velocity fluctuations produced by the solar oscillations and the characterization of their spectrum. So far, it has been one of the pioneer experiments in the field of helioseismology and contributed to the development of that area. Moreover, because of its high-sensitivity and long-term instrumental stability, it also provides an accurate determination (to within a few parts in 103) of the absolute daily velocity offset, which contains the so-called solar gravitational red-shift. In this paper, results of the analysis of the measurements of this parameter over the whole period 1976–2013 are presented. The result of this series of measurements is 600.4 ± 0.8 m s−1 with an amplitude variation of ±5 m s−1, which is in anticorrelation with the phase of the solar activity cycle. The 5 per cent difference found with respect to the value predicted by the equivalence principle is probably due to the asymmetry of the solar spectral line used.
The long-term spatial and temporal variation of aurora borealis events from 1600 to the present were studied using catalogues and other records of these phenomena. Geographic and geomagnetic ...coordinates were assigned to approximately 45 000 auroral events with more than 160 000 observations. They were analysed separately for three large-scale areas: i) Europe and North Africa, ii) North America, and iii) Asia. Variations in the cumulative numbers of auroral events with latitude (in both geographic and geomagnetic coordinates) were used to distinguish between the two main solar sources: coronal mass ejections and high-speed streams from coronal holes. We find significant long-term variations in the space-time distribution of auroras. We mainly identify these with four Gleissberg solar activity cycles whose overall characteristics we examine. The Asian observations are crucial in this context, and therefore merit further studies and verifications.
Context. Since CoRoT observations unveiled the very low amplitude modes that form a flat plateau in the power spectrum structure of δ Scuti stars, the nature of this phenomenon, including the ...possibility of spurious signals due to the light curve analysis, has been a matter of long-standing scientific debate. Aims. We contribute to this debate by finding the structural parameters of a sample of four δ Scuti stars, CID 546, CID 3619, CID 8669, and KIC 5892969, and looking for a possible relation between these stars’ structural parameters and their power spectrum structure. Methods. For the purposes of characterization, we developed a method of studying and analysing the power spectrum with high precision and have applied it to both CoRoT and Kepler light curves. Results. We obtain the best estimates to date of these stars’ structural parameters. Moreover, we observe that the power spectrum structure depends on the inclination, oblateness, and convective efficiency of each star. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the power spectrum structure is real and is possibly formed by 2-period island modes and chaotic modes.
A study of the star KIC 5892969 observed by the Kepler satellite is presented. Its three highest amplitude modes present a strong amplitude modulation. The aim of this work is to investigate ...amplitude variations in this star and their possible cause. Using the 4 years-long observations available, we obtained the frequency content of the full light curve. Then, we studied the amplitude and phase variations with time using shorter time stamps. The results obtained are compared with the predicted ones for resonant mode coupling of an unstable mode with lower frequency stable modes. Our conclusion is that resonant mode coupling is consistent as an amplitude limitation mechanism in several modes of KIC 5892969 and we discuss to which extent it might play an important role for other delta Scuti stars.
Context. The results obtained by asteroseismology with data from space missions such as CoRoT and Kepler are providing new insights into stellar evolution. After five years of observations, CoRoT is ...continuing to provide high-quality data and we here present an analysis of the CoRoT observations of the double star HD 169392, complemented by ground-based spectroscopic observations. Aims. This work aims at characterising the fundamental parameters of the two stars, their chemical composition, the acoustic-mode global parameters including their individual frequencies, and their dynamics. Methods. We analysed HARPS observations of the two stars to derive their chemical compositions. Several methods were used and compared to determine the global properties of stars’ acoustic modes and their individual frequencies from the photometric data of CoRoT. Results. The new spectroscopic observations and archival astrometric values suggest that HD 169392 is a weakly bound wide binary system. We obtained spectroscopic parameters for both components which suggest that they originate from the same interstellar cloud. However, only the signature of oscillation modes of HD 169392 A was measured; the signal-to-noise ratio of the modes in HD 169392B is too low to allow any confident detection. For HD 169392 A we were able to extract parameters of modes for ℓ = 0, 1, 2, and 3. The analysis of splittings and inclination angle gives two possible solutions: one with with splittings and inclination angles of 0.4−1.0 μHz and 20 − 40°, the other with 0.2−0.5 μHz and 55−86°. Modelling this star using the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal (AMP) gives a mass of 1.15 ± 0.01 M⊙, a radius of 1.88 ± 0.02 R⊙, and an age of 4.33 ± 0.12 Gyr. The uncertainties come from estimated errors on the observables but do not include uncertainties on the surface layer correction or the physics of stellar models.
Context. We present the first high-cadence multiwavelength radial-velocity observations of the Sun-as-a-star, carried out during 57 consecutive days using the stellar échelle spectrograph at the ...Hertzsprung SONG Telescope operating at the Teide Observatory. Aims. Our aim was to produce a high-quality data set and reference values for the global helioseismic parameters νmax, ⊙ and Δν⊙ of the solar p-modes using the SONG instrument. The obtained data set or the inferred values should then be used when the scaling relations are applied to other stars showing solar-like oscillations observed with SONG or similar instruments. Methods. We used different approaches to analyse the power spectrum of the time series to determine νmax, ⊙: simple Gaussian fitting and heavy smoothing of the power spectrum. We determined Δν⊙ using the method of autocorrelation of the power spectrum. The amplitude per radial mode was determined using the method described in Kjeldsen et al. (2008, ApJ, 682, 1370). Results. We found the following values for the solar oscillations using the SONG spectrograph: νmax, ⊙ = 3141 ± 12 μHz, Δν⊙ = 134.98 ± 0.04 μHz, and an average amplitude of the strongest radial modes of 16.6 ± 0.4 cm s−1. These values are consistent with previous measurements with other techniques.
Aims. We describe a fast, robust and automatic detection algorithm, TRUFAS, and apply it to data that are being expected from the CoRoT mission. Methods.The procedure proposed for the detection of ...planetary transits in light curves works in two steps: 1) a continuous wavelet transformation of the detrended light curve with posterior selection of the optimum scale for transit detection, and 2) a period search in that selected wavelet transformation. The detrending of the light curves are based on Fourier filtering or a discrete wavelet transformation. TRUFAS requires the presence of at least 3 transit events in the data. Results.The proposed algorithm is shown to identify reliably and quickly the transits that had been included in a standard set of 999 light curves that simulate CoRoT data. Variations in the pre-processing of the light curves and in the selection of the scale of the wavelet transform have only little effect on TRUFAS' results. Conclusions.TRUFAS is a robust and quick transit detection algorithm, especially well suited for the analysis of very large volumes of data from space or ground-based experiments, with long enough durations for the target-planets to produce multiple transit events.