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Marie-Jo Goupil

Publications and source records attributed to Marie-Jo Goupil.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Asteroseismic modelling of main-sequence solar-like stars and Kepler exoplanet host stars with the FICO procedure I. Catalogue of fundamental stellar properties

We present detailed asteroseismic modelling of 95 main-sequence solar-like stars and Kepler exoplanet host stars using the FICO procedure, a three-step method that combines forward and inverse techniques that enables precise inference of fundamental stellar parameters such as mass, radius, age, and mean density. We applied the FICO procedure to a catalogue of stars with high-quality asteroseismic and classical observations, and compared its results against literature values. We also compared its performance with direct frequency fitting using semi-empirical surface corrections. The FICO procedure achieved statistical precisions of 2.3%, 0.82%, 6.9%, and 0.49% in mass, radius, age, and mean density, respectively on average, well within PLATO quality requirements. We reconfirmed that surface-independent methods more effectively mitigate biases inherent to semi-empirical surface corrections, particularly for stars more massive than 1.15 Msun or above 6050 K. Two regimes were identified: near-solar conditions, where both approaches perform similarly, and higher-mass stars, where surface-independent methods consistently outperform direct fitting methods. While our results are consistent with literature values, we observed age biases (~11.5% on average for the Kepler LEGACY sample) that are comparable to the PLATO accuracy requirement of 10% for a Sun-like star, and therefore not negligible in that context. The FICO procedure provides a robust framework for high-precision stellar characterisation in the PLATO era. Its hybrid architecture effectively addresses surface effects, making it a promising tool for the accurate determination of exoplanet host-star properties. Our findings also highlight the importance of carefully selecting and validating the physical assumptions embedded in stellar models, particularly in the context of next-generation space missions such as PLATO.

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arXiv2023

Asteroseismic modelling strategies in the PLATO era I. Mean density inversions and direct treatment of the seismic information

Asteroseismic modelling will be part of the pipeline of the PLATO mission and will play a key role in the mission precision requirements on stellar mass, radius and age. It is therefore crucial to compare how current modelling strategies perform, and discuss the limitations and remaining challenges for PLATO, such as the so-called surface effects, the choice of physical ingredients, and stellar activity. In this context, we carried out a systematic study of the impact of surface effects on the estimation of stellar parameters. In this work, we demonstrated how combining a mean density inversion with a fit of frequencies separation ratios can efficiently damp the surface effects and achieve precise and accurate stellar parameters for ten Kepler LEGACY targets, well within the PLATO mission requirements. We applied and compared two modelling approaches, directly fitting the individual frequencies, or coupling a mean density inversion with a fit of the ratios, to six synthetic targets with a patched 3D atmosphere from Sonoi et al. (2015) and ten actual targets from the LEGACY sample. The fit of the individual frequencies is unsurprisingly very sensitive to surface effects and the stellar parameters tend to be biased, which constitutes a fundamental limit to both accuracy and precision. In contrast, coupling a mean density inversion and a fit of the ratios efficiently damps the surface effects, and allows us to get both precise and accurate stellar parameters. The average statistical precision of our selection of LEGACY targets with this second strategy is 1.9% for the mass, 0.7% for the radius, and 4.1% for the age, well within the PLATO requirements. Using the mean density in the constraints significantly improves the precision of the mass, radius and age determinations, on average by 20%, 33%, and 16%, respectively.

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arXiv2022

Properties of the ionisation glitch II. Seismic signature of the structural perturbation

In the present paper, we aim to constrain the properties of the ionisation region in a star from the oscillation frequency variation (a so-called glitch) caused by rapid structural variations in this very region. In particular, we seek to avoid the use of calibration based on stellar models thus providing a truly independent estimate of these properties. These include both the helium abundance and other physical quantities that can have a significant impact on the oscillation frequencies such as the electronic degeneracy parameter or the extent of the ionisation region. Taking as a starting point our first paper, we applied structural perturbations of the ionisation zone to the wave equation for radial oscillations in an isentropic region. The resulting glitch model is thus able to exploit the information contained in the fast frequency oscillation caused by the helium ionisation but also in the slow trend accompanying that of hydrogen. This information can directly be expressed in terms of parameters related respectively to the helium abundance, electronic degeneracy and extent of the ionisation region. Using a Bayesian inference, we show that a substantial recovery of the properties at the origin of the glitch is possible. A degeneracy between the helium abundance and the electronic degeneracy is found to exist, which particularly affects the helium estimate. Extending the method to cases where the glitch is subject to contamination (e.g. surface effects), we noted the importance of the slow glitch trend associated with hydrogen ionisation. We propose using a Gaussian process to disentangle the frequency glitch from surface effects.

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arXiv2022

The SAPP pipeline for the determination of stellar abundances and atmospheric parameters of stars in the core program of the PLATO mission

We introduce the SAPP (Stellar Abundances and atmospheric Parameters Pipeline), the prototype of the code that will be used to determine parameters of stars observed within the core program of the PLATO space mission. The pipeline is based on the Bayesian inference and provides effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, chemical abundances, and luminosity. The code in its more general version can have a much wider range of applications. It can also provide masses, ages, and radii of stars and can be used for stars of stellar types not targeted by the PLATO core program, such as red giants. We validate the code on a set of 27 benchmark stars that includes 19 FGK-type dwarfs, 6 GK-type sub-giants, and 2 red giants. Our results suggest that combining various observables is the optimal approach, as it allows to break degeneracies between different parameters and yields more accurate values of stellar parameters and more realistic uncertainties. For the PLATO core sample, we obtain a typical uncertainty of 27 ($\rm{syst.}$) $\pm$ 37 ($\rm{stat.}$) K for T$_{\rm{eff}}$, 0.00 $\pm$ 0.01 dex for log$g$, 0.02 $\pm$ 0.02 dex for metallicity [Fe/H], -0.01 $\pm$ 0.03 R$_\odot$ for radii, -0.01 $\pm$ 0.05 M$_\odot$ for stellar masses, and -0.14 $\pm$ 0.63 Gyrs for ages. We also show that the best results are obtained by combining the $ν_{max}$ scaling relation and stellar spectra. This resolves the notorious problem of degeneracies, which is particularly important for F-type stars.

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arXiv2021

Properties of the ionisation glitch: I. Modelling the ionisation region

Determining the properties of solar-like oscillating stars can be subject to many biases. A particularly important example is the helium-mass degeneracy, where the uncertainties regarding the internal physics can cause a poor determination of both the mass and surface helium content. Accordingly, an independent helium estimate is needed to overcome this degeneracy. A promising way to obtain such an estimate is to exploit the so-called ionisation glitch, i.e. a deviation from the asymptotic oscillation frequency pattern caused by the rapid structural variation in the He ionisation zones. Although progressively becoming more sophisticated, the glitch-based approach faces problems inherent to its current modelling such as the need for calibration by realistic stellar models. This requires a physical model of the ionisation region explicitly involving the parameters of interest such as the surface helium abundance, $Y_s$. Through a thermodynamic treatment of the ionisation region, an analytical approximation for the first adiabatic exponent $Γ_1$ is presented. The induced stellar structure is found to depend on only three parameters including the surface helium abundance $Y_s$ and the electron degeneracy $ψ_\textrm{CZ}$ in the convective region. The model thus defined allows a wide variety of structures to be described and, in particular, is able to approximate a realistic model in the ionisation region. The modelling work conducted enables us to study the structural perturbations causing the glitch. More elaborate forms of perturbations than the ones usually assumed are found. It is also suggested that there might be a stronger dependence of the structure on both the electron degeneracy in the convection zone and on the position of the ionisation region rather than on the amount of helium itself.

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arXiv2014

How accurate are stellar ages based on stellar models ? I. The impact of stellar models uncertainties

Among the various methods used to age-date stars, methods based on stellar model predictions are widely used, for nearly all kind of stars in large ranges of masses, chemical compositions and evolutionary stages. The precision and accuracy on the age determination depend on both the precision and number of observational constraints, and on our ability to correctly describe the stellar interior and evolution. The imperfect input physics of stellar models as well as the uncertainties on the initial chemical composition of stars are responsible for uncertainties in the age determination. We present an overview of the calculation of stellar models and discuss the impact on age of their numerous inputs.

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arXiv2014

Asteroseismology for "à la carte" stellar age-dating and weighing: Age and mass of the CoRoT exoplanet host HD 52265

In the context of CoRoT, Kepler, Gaia, TESS, and PLATO, precise and accurate stellar ages, masses and radii are of paramount importance. They are crucial to constrain scenarii of planetary formation and evolution.We aim at quantifying how detailed stellar modeling improves the accuracy and precision on age and mass of individual stars. We adopt a multifaceted approach where we examine how the number of observational constraints as well as the uncertainties on observations and on model input physics impact the age-dating and weighing. We modelled the exoplanet host-star HD52265, a MS, solar-like oscillator observed by CoRoT. We considered different sets of observational constraints (HR data, metallicity, seismic constraints). For each case, we determined the age, mass, and properties of HD52265 inferred from models, and quantified the impact of the models inputs. Our seismic analysis provides an age A=2.10-2.54 Gyr, a mass M=1.14-1.32 Msun, and a radius R=1.30-1.34 Rsun, which corresponds to uncertainties of 10, 7, and 1.5% respectively. Our seismic study provides constraints on surface convection, through the mixing-length found to be 12-15% smaller than the solar one. Because of helium-mass degeneracy, the initial He abundance is determined modulo the mass. The seismic mass of the exoplanet is found to be Mp sin i=1.17-1.26 MJup, much more precise than what can be derived by HR diagram inversion. We demonstrate that asteroseismology allows to improve the age accuracy compared to other methods. We emphasize that the knowledge of the mean properties of oscillations -as the large frequency separation- is not enough for deriving accurate ages. We need precise individual frequencies to narrow the age scatter due to model uncertainties. This strengthen the case for precise classical stellar parameters and frequencies as will be obtained by Gaia and PLATO.

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arXiv2011

Gravity modes as a way to distinguish between hydrogen- and helium-burning red giant stars

Red giants are evolved stars that have exhausted the supply of hydrogen in their cores and instead burn hydrogen in a surrounding shell. Once a red giant is sufficiently evolved, the helium in the core also undergoes fusion. Outstanding issues in our understanding of red giants include uncertainties in the amount of mass lost at the surface before helium ignition and the amount of internal mixing from rotation and other processes. Progress is hampered by our inability to distinguish between red giants burning helium in the core and those still only burning hydrogen in a shell. Asteroseismology offers a way forward, being a powerful tool for probing the internal structures of stars using their natural oscillation frequencies. Here we report observations of gravity-mode period spacings in red giants that permit a distinction between evolutionary stages to be made. We use high-precision photometry obtained with the Kepler spacecraft over more than a year to measure oscillations in several hundred red giants. We find many stars whose dipole modes show sequences with approximately regular period spacings. These stars fall into two clear groups, allowing us to distinguish unambiguously between hydrogen-shell-burning stars (period spacing mostly about 50 seconds) and those that are also burning helium (period spacing about 100 to 300 seconds).

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arXiv2009

Detection of solar-like oscillations from Kepler photometry of the open cluster NGC 6819

Asteroseismology of stars in clusters has been a long-sought goal because the assumption of a common age, distance and initial chemical composition allows strong tests of the theory of stellar evolution. We report results from the first 34 days of science data from the Kepler Mission for the open cluster NGC 6819 -- one of four clusters in the field of view. We obtain the first clear detections of solar-like oscillations in the cluster red giants and are able to measure the large frequency separation and the frequency of maximum oscillation power. We find that the asteroseismic parameters allow us to test cluster-membership of the stars, and even with the limited seismic data in hand, we can already identify four possible non-members despite their having a better than 80% membership probability from radial velocity measurements. We are also able to determine the oscillation amplitudes for stars that span about two orders of magnitude in luminosity and find good agreement with the prediction that oscillation amplitudes scale as the luminosity to the power of 0.7. These early results demonstrate the unique potential of asteroseismology of the stellar clusters observed by Kepler.

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arXiv2001

Oscillation power across the HR diagram : sensitivity to the convection treatment

Solar-like oscillations are stochastically excited by turbulent convection. In this work we investigate changes in the acoustic oscillation power spectrum of solar-type stars by varying the treatment of convection in the equilibrium structure and the properties of the stochastic excitation model. We consider different stellar models computed with the standard mixing-length description by Bohm-Vitense (1958) and with a generalized formulation of the mixing-length approach by Gough (1976, 1977). We calculate the acoustic power generated by the turbulent convection which is injected stochastically into the acoustic pulsation modes. Large differences in the oscillation powers are obtained depending on the choice of the assumed convection formulation. We show that the high-quality data Eddington will provide, will allow us to distinguish between theoretical predictions of acoustic power spectra obtained with different convection models.

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arXiv2001

Excitation of stellar p-modes by turbulent convection: 1. Theoretical formulation

Stochatic excitation of stellar oscillations by turbulent convection is investigated and an expression for the power injected into the oscillations by the turbulent convection of the outer layers is derived which takes into account excitation through turbulent Reynolds stresses and turbulent entropy fluctuations. This formulation generalizes results from previous works and is built so as to enable investigations of various possible spatial and temporal spectra of stellar turbulent convection. For the Reynolds stress contribution and assuming the Kolmogorov spectrum we obtain a similar formulation than those derived by previous authors. The entropy contribution to excitation is found to originate from the advection of the Eulerian entropy fluctuations by the turbulent velocity field. Numerical computations in the solar case in a companion paper indicate that the entropy source term is dominant over Reynold stress contribution to mode excitation, except at high frequencies.

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arXiv2001

Excitation of stellar p-modes by turbulent convection : 2. The Sun

Acoustic power and oscillation amplitudes of radial oscillations computed for a solar model are compared with solar seismic observations. The oscillations are assumed stochastically excited by turbulence. The numerical computations are based upon a theoretical formulation of the power going into solar like oscillation modes as proposed by Samadi et al. (2000) in a companion paper. This formulation allows to investigate several assumptions concerning properties of the stellar turbulence. We find that the entropy source plays a dominant role in the stochastic excitation compared with the Reynold stress source in agreement with Goldreich et al. (1994). We consider several turbulent kinetic energy spectra suggested by different observations of the solar granulation. Differences between turbulent spectra manifest themselves by large differences in the computed oscillation powers at high oscillation frequency. Two free parameters which are introduced in the description of the turbulence enter the expression for the acoustic power. These parameters are adjusted in order to fit to the solar observations of the surface velocity oscillations. The best fit is obtained with the kinetic energy spectrum deduced from the observations of the solar granulation by Nesis et al. (1993); the corresponding adjusted parameters are found to be compatible with the theoretical upper limit which can be set on these parameters. The adopted theoretical approach improves the agreement between solar seismic observations and numerical results.

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arXiv2001

Oscillation power as a test of stellar turbulence : Scanning the HR diagram

The acoustic power injected by turbulent convection into solar-like oscillations depends on the details of the turbulent spectrum. A theoretical formulation for the oscillation power is developed which generalizes previous ones. The formulation is first calibrated on a solar model in such a way as to reproduce the solar seismic data. This allows to investigate different assumptions about the stellar turbulent spectrum. We next explore consequences of the assumed turbulent description for some potentially solar-like oscillating stars. Large differences are found in the oscillation power of a given star when using different turbulent spectra as well as in a star to star comparison. Space seismic observations of such stars will be valuable for discriminating between several turbulent models.

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arXiv1999

Turbulent Convection in Pulsating Stars

We review recent results of stellar pulsation modelling that show that even very simple one-dimensional models for time dependent turbulent energy diffusion and convection provide a substantial improvement over purely radiative models.

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