Exploring the Small-scale Magnetic Fields in the Atmosphere of HD 49385 by Asteroseismic Analysis

Abstract

Recent asteroseismic studies have shown convincing evidence that magnetic fields may exist in the interior of some pulsating red giants. Inspired by this breakthrough, we explored the effect of small-scale magnetic fields on the p-mode oscillations in an evolved star, HD 49385. We incorporate a modified Eddington T–τ equation that phenomenologically mimics the effect of the magnetic fields in the atmosphere of HD 49385, and calculate the frequencies of p-modes with l = 0, 1, and 2. By comparing the calculated frequencies with the observed ones, we select two best-fit models with either GS98 or A09 chemical composition. Our best-fit models not only fit satisfactorily the observed frequencies but also well reproduce some spectroscopically observed stellar parameters such as effective temperature and log g. Based on the two best-fit models, we have estimated that the small-scale magnetic fields possess a strength of approximately 80 G and spread concentratively at approximately a height of 1850 km in the atmosphere. By selecting the best-fit models with a special requirement on the avoided-crossing mode, we have confirmed that the frequency of the avoided-crossing mode is tightly related to the helium core of the star, and determined the size of the helium core as 0.117 M ⊙ in mass and 0.078 R ⊙ in radius. Based on the improvements of the previous two sides, we can accurately determine the mass of HD 49385 to be 1.25 ± 0.02 M ⊙ with an age of 4.1 Gyr for GS98 composition and 4.5 Gyr for A09 composition.