Inference from adiabatic analysis of solar‐like oscilations in red giants

Abstract

AbstractThe clear detection with CoRoT and Kepler of radial and non‐radial solar‐like oscillations in many red giants paves the way to seismic inferences on the structure of such stars. We present an overview of the properties of the adiabatic frequencies and frequency separations of radial and non‐radial oscillation modes, highlighting how their detection allows a deeper insight into the properties of the internal structure of red giants. In our study we consider models of red giants in different evolutionary stages, as well as of different masses and chemical composition. We describe how the large and small separations computed with radial modes and with non‐radial modes mostly trapped in the envelope depend on the stellar global parameters and evolutionary state, and we compare our theoretical predictions and first Kepler data.Finally, we find that the properties of dipole modes constitute a promising seismic diagnostic of the evolutionary state of red‐giant stars (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)