Asteroseismology of Sun-like Stars - A Proposal

Abstract

In the past decade, helioseismology has revolutionized our understanding of the interior structure of the Sun. In the next decade, asteroseismology will place this knowledge into context, by providing structural information for dozens of pulsating stars across the H-R diagram. Solar-like oscillations have already been detected from the ground in a few stars, and several current and planned satellite missions will soon unleash a flood of stellar pulsation data. Deriving reliable seismological constraints from these observations will require a significant improvement to our current analysis methods. We are adapting a computational method, based on a parallel genetic algorithm, to help interpret forthcoming observations of Sun-like stars. This approach was originally developed for white dwarfs and ultimately led to several interesting tests of fundamental physics, including a key astrophysical nuclear reaction rate and the theory of stellar crystallization. The impact of this method on the analysis of pulsating white dwarfs suggests that seismological modeling of Sun-like stars will also benefit from this approach.