Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userObservations of intensity fluctuations attributed to granulation and faculae on Sun-like stars from the Kepler mission
208
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Sun-like stars show intensity fluctuations on a number of time scales due to various physical phenomena on their surfaces. These phenomena can convincingly be studied in the frequency spectra of these stars - while the strongest signatures usually originate from spots, granulation and p-mode oscillations, it has also been suggested that the frequency spectrum of the Sun contains a signature of faculae. We have analyzed three stars observed for 13 months in short cadence (58.84 seconds sampling) by the Kepler mission. The frequency spectra of all three stars, as for the Sun, contain signatures that we can attribute to granulation, faculae, and p-mode oscillations. The temporal variability of the signatures attributed to granulation, faculae and p-mode oscillations were analyzed and the analysis indicates a periodic variability in the granulation and faculae signatures - comparable to what is seen in the Sun.
rate research
Read More
The granulation pattern that we observe on the surface of the Sun is due to hot plasma from the interior rising to the photosphere where it cools down, and descends back into the interior at the edges of granules. This is the visible manifestation of convection taking place in the outer part of the solar convection zone. Because red giants have deeper convection zones and more extended atmospheres than the Sun, we cannot a priori assume that granulation in red giants is a scaled version of solar granulation. Until now, neither observations nor 1D analytical convection models could put constraints on granulation in red giants. However, thanks to asteroseismology, this study can now be performed. The resulting parameters yield physical information about the granulation. We analyze sim1000 red giants that have been observed by Kepler during 13 months. We fit the power spectra with Harvey-like profiles to retrieve the characteristics of the granulation (time scale tau_gran and power P_gran). We also introduce a new time scale, tau_eff, which takes into account that different slopes are used in the Harvey functions. We search for a correlation between these parameters and the global acoustic-mode parameter (the position of maximum power, nu_max) as well as with stellar parameters (mass, radius, surface gravity (log g) and effective temperature (T_eff)). We show that tau_eff nu_max^{-0.89} and P_gran nu_max^{-1.90}, which is consistent with the theoretical predictions. We find that the granulation time scales of stars that belong to the red clump have similar values while the time scales of stars in the red-giant branch are spread in a wider range. Finally, we show that realistic 3D simulations of the surface convection in stars, spanning the (T_eff, log g)-range of our sample of red giants, match the Kepler observations well in terms of trends.
We study the distribution of the photometric rotation period (Prot), which is a direct measurement of the surface rotation at active latitudes, for three subsamples of Sun-like stars: one from CoRoT data and two from Kepler data. We identify the main populations of these samples and interpret their main biases specifically for a comparison with the solar Prot. Prot and variability amplitude (A) measurements were obtained from public CoRoT and Kepler catalogs combined with physical parameters. Because these samples are subject to selection effects, we computed synthetic samples with simulated biases to compare with observations, particularly around the location of the Sun in the HR diagram. Theoretical grids and empirical relations were used to combine physical parameters with Prot and A. Biases were simulated by performing cutoffs on the physical and rotational parameters in the same way as in each observed sample. A crucial cutoff is related with the detectability of the rotational modulation, which strongly depends on A. The synthetic samples explain the observed Prot distributions of Sun-like stars as having two main populations: one of young objects (group I, with ages younger than ~1 Gyr) and another of MS and evolved stars (group II, with ages older than ~1 Gyr). The proportions of groups I and II in relation to the total number of stars range within 64-84% and 16-36%, respectively. Hence, young objects abound in the distributions, producing the effect of observing a high number of short periods around the location of the Sun in the HR diagram. Differences in the Prot distributions between the CoRoT and Kepler Sun-like samples may be associated with different Galactic populations. Overall, the synthetic distribution around the solar period agrees with observations, which suggests that the solar rotation is normal with respect to Sun-like stars within the accuracy of current data.
The evolved main-sequence Sun-like stars KIC 10273246 (F-type) and KIC 10920273 (G-type) were observed with the NASA Kepler satellite for approximately ten months with a duty cycle in excess of 90%. Such continuous and long observations are unprecedented for solar-type stars other than the Sun. We aimed mainly at extracting estimates of p-mode frequencies - as well as of other individual mode parameters - from the power spectra of the light curves of both stars, thus providing scope for a full seismic characterization. The light curves were corrected for instrumental effects in a manner independent of the Kepler Science Pipeline. Estimation of individual mode parameters was based both on the maximization of the likelihood of a model describing the power spectrum and on a classic prewhitening method. Finally, we employed a procedure for selecting frequency lists to be used in stellar modeling. A total of 30 and 21 modes of degree l=0,1,2 - spanning at least eight radial orders - have been identified for KIC 10273246 and KIC 10920273, respectively. Two avoided crossings (l=1 ridge) have been identified for KIC 10273246, whereas one avoided crossing plus another likely one have been identified for KIC 10920273. Good agreement is found between observed and predicted mode amplitudes for the F-type star KIC 10273246, based on a revised scaling relation. Estimates are given of the rotational periods, the parameters describing stellar granulation and the global asteroseismic parameters $Delta u$ and $ u_{rm{max}}$.
The latest Gaia data release enables us to accurately identify stars that are more luminous than would be expected on the basis of their spectral type and distance. During an investigation of the 329 best Solar twin candidates uncovered among the spectra acquired by the GALAH survey, we identified 64 such over-luminous stars. In order to investigate their exact composition, we developed a data-driven methodology that can generate a synthetic photometric signature and spectrum of a single star. By combining multiple such synthetic stars into an unresolved binary or triple system and comparing the results to the actual photometric and spectroscopic observations, we uncovered 6 definitive triple stellar system candidates and an additional 14 potential candidates whose combined spectrum mimics the Solar spectrum. Considering the volume correction factor for a magnitude limited survey, the fraction of probable unresolved triple stars with long orbital periods is ~2 %. Possible orbital configurations of the candidates were investigated using the selection and observational limits. To validate the discovered multiplicity fraction, the same procedure was used to evaluate the multiplicity fraction of other stellar types.
The present study reports the discovery of Sun-like stars, namely main-sequence stars with $T_{rm eff}$, $log g$ and rotation periods $P_{rot}$ similar to solar values, presenting evidence of surface differential rotation. An autocorrelation of the time series was used to select stars presenting photometric signal stability from a sample of 881 stars with light curves collected by the $Kepler$ space-borne telescope, in which we have identified 17 stars with stable signals. A simple two-spot model together with a Bayesian information criterion were applied to these stars in the search for indications of differential rotation; in addition, for all 17 stars, it was possible to compute the spot rotation period $P$, the mean values of the individual spot rotation periods and their respective colatitudes, and the relative amplitude of the differential rotation.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
