arXiv subjects

S. Mathis

Publications and source records attributed to S. Mathis.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Rotation periods and seismic ages of KOIs - comparison with stars without detected planets from Kepler observations

One of the most difficult properties to derive for stars is their age. For cool main-sequence stars, gyrochronology relations can be used to infer stellar ages from measured rotation pe- riods and HR Diagram positions. These relations have few calibrators with known ages for old, long rotation period stars. There is a significant sample of old Kepler objects of inter- est, or KOIs, which have both measurable surface rotation periods and precise asteroseismic measurements from which ages can be accurately derived. In this work we determine the age and the rotation period of solar-like pulsating KOIs to both compare the rotation properties of stars with and without known planets and enlarge the gyrochronology calibration sample for old stars. We use Kepler photometric light curves to derive the stellar surface rotation peri- ods while ages are obtained with asteroseismology using the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal in which individual mode frequencies are combined with high-resolution spectroscopic pa- rameters. We thus determine surface rotation periods and ages for 11 planet-hosting stars, all over 2 Gyr old. We find that the planet-hosting stars exhibit a rotational behaviour that is consistent with the latest age-rotation models and similar to the rotational behaviour of stars without detected planets. We conclude that these old KOIs can be used to test and calibrate gyrochronology along with stars not known to host planets.

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arXiv2015

Free inertial modes in differentially rotating convective envelopes of low-mass stars : numerical exploration

Tidally-excited inertial waves in stellar convective regions are a key mechanism for tidal dissipation in stars and therefore the evolution of close-in binary or planetary systems. As a first step, we explore here the impact of latitudinal differential rotation on the properties of free inertial modes and identify the different families of modes. We show that they differ from the case of solid-body rotation. Using an analytical approach as well as numerical calculations, we conclude that critical layers (where the Doppler-shifted frequency vanishes) could play a very important role for tidal dissipation.

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arXiv2015

Melting the core of giant planets: impact on tidal dissipation

Giant planets are believed to host central dense rocky/icy cores that are key actors in the core-accretion scenario for their formation. In the same time, some of their components are unstable in the temperature and pressure regimes of central regions of giant planets and only ab-initio EOS computations can address the question of the state of matter. In this framework, several works demonstrated that erosion and redistribution of core materials in the envelope must be taken into account. These complex mechanisms thus may deeply modify giant planet interiors for which signatures of strong tidal dissipation have been obtained for Jupiter and Saturn. The best candidates to explain this dissipation are the viscoelastic dissipation in the central dense core and turbulent friction acting on tidal inertial waves in their fluid convective envelope. In this work, we study the consequences of the possible melting of central regions for the efficiency of each of these mechanisms.

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arXiv2015

Characterizing the propagation of gravity waves in 3D nonlinear simulations of solar-like stars

The revolution of helio- and asteroseismology provides access to the detailed properties of stellar interiors by studying the star's oscillation modes. Among them, gravity (g) modes are formed by constructive interferences between progressive internal gravity waves (IGWs), propagating in stellar radiative zones. Our new 3D nonlinear simulations of the interior of a solar-like star allows us to study the excitation, propagation, and dissipation of these waves. The aim of this article is to clarify our understanding of the behavior of IGWs in a 3D radiative zone and to provide a clear overview of their properties. We use a method of frequency filtering that reveals the path of {individual} gravity waves of different frequencies in the radiative zone. We are able to identify the region of propagation of different waves in 2D and 3D, to compare them to the linear raytracing theory and to distinguish between propagative and standing waves (g modes). We also show that the energy carried by waves is distributed in different planes in the sphere, depending on their azimuthal wave number. We are able to isolate individual IGWs from a complex spectrum and to study their propagation in space and time. In particular, we highlight in this paper the necessity of studying the propagation of waves in 3D spherical geometry, since the distribution of their energy is not equipartitioned in the sphere.

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arXiv2015

The variation of tidal dissipation in the convective envelope of low-mass stars along their evolution

Since 1995, more than 1500 exoplanets have been discovered around a large diversity of host stars (from M- to A-type stars). Tidal dissipation in stellar convective envelopes is a key actor that shapes the orbital architecture of short-period systems. Our objective is to understand and evaluate how tidal dissipation in the convective envelope of low-mass stars (from M to F types) depends on their mass, evolutionary stage and rotation. Using a simplified two-layer assumption, we compute analytically the frequency-averaged tidal dissipation in their convective envelope. This dissipation is due to the conversion into heat of the kinetic energy of tidal non wave-like/equilibrium flow and inertial waves because of the viscous friction applied by turbulent convection. Using grids of stellar models allows us to study the variation of the dissipation as a function of stellar mass and age on the Pre-Main-Sequence and on the Main-Sequence for stars with masses spanning from $0.4$ to $1.4M_{\odot}$. As shown by observations, tidal dissipation in stars varies over several orders of magnitude as a function of stellar mass, age and rotation. During their Pre-Main-Sequence, all low-mass stars have an increase of the frequency-averaged tidal dissipation for a fixed angular velocity in their convective envelope until they reach a critical aspect and mass ratios. Next, the dissipation evolves on the Main Sequence to an asymptotic value that becomes maximum for $0.6M_{\odot}$ K-type stars and that decreases by several orders of magnitude with increasing stellar mass. Finally, the rotational evolution of low-mass stars strengthens the importance of tidal dissipation during the Pre-Main-Sequence for star-planet and multiple star systems.

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arXiv2015

Scaling laws to understand tidal dissipation in fluid planetary regions and stars I - Rotation, stratification and thermal diffusivity

Tidal dissipation in planets and stars is one of the key physical mechanisms driving the evolution of star-planet and planet-moon systems. Several signatures of its action are observed in planetary systems thanks to their orbital architecture and the rotational state of their components. Tidal dissipation inside the fluid layers of celestial bodies are intrinsically linked to the dynamics and the physical properties of the latter. This complex dependence must be characterized. We compute the tidal kinetic energy dissipated by viscous friction and thermal diffusion in a rotating local fluid Cartesian section of a star/planet/moon submitted to a periodic tidal forcing. The properties of tidal gravito-inertial waves excited by the perturbation are derived analytically as explicit functions of the tidal frequency and local fluid parameters (i.e. the rotation, the buoyancy frequency characterizing the entropy stratification, viscous and thermal diffusivities) for periodic normal modes. The sensitivity of the resulting possibly highly resonant dissipation frequency-spectra to a control parameter of the system is either important or negligible depending on the position in the regime diagram relevant for planetary and stellar interiors. For corresponding asymptotic behaviors of tidal gravito-inertial waves dissipated by viscous friction and thermal diffusion, scaling laws for the frequencies, number, width, height and contrast with the non-resonant background of resonances are derived to quantify these variations. We characterize the strong impact of the internal physics and dynamics of fluid planetary layers and stars on the dissipation of tidal kinetic energy in their bulk. We point out the key control parameters that really play a role and demonstrate how it is now necessary to develop ab-initio modeling for tidal dissipation in celestial bodies.

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arXiv2015

Angular momentum redistribution by mixed modes in evolved low-mass stars. I. Theoretical formalism

Seismic observations by the space-borne mission \emph{Kepler} have shown that the core of red giant stars slows down while evolving, requiring an efficient physical mechanism to extract angular momentum from the inner layers. Current stellar evolution codes fail to reproduce the observed rotation rates by several orders of magnitude, and predict a drastic spin-up of red giant cores instead. New efficient mechanisms of angular momentum transport are thus required. In this framework, our aim is to investigate the possibility that mixed modes extract angular momentum from the inner radiative regions of evolved low-mass stars. To this end, we consider the Transformed Eulerian Mean (TEM) formalism, introduced by Andrews \& McIntyre (1978), that allows us to consider the combined effect of both the wave momentum flux in the mean angular momentum equation and the wave heat flux in the mean entropy equation as well as their interplay with the meridional circulation. In radiative layers of evolved low-mass stars, the quasi-adiabatic approximation, the limit of slow rotation, and the asymptotic regime can be applied for mixed modes and enable us to establish a prescription for the wave fluxes in the mean equations. The formalism is finally applied to a $1.3 M_\odot$ benchmark model, representative of observed CoRoT and \emph{Kepler} oscillating evolved stars. We show that the influence of the wave heat flux on the mean angular momentum is not negligible and that the overall effect of mixed modes is to extract angular momentum from the innermost region of the star. A quantitative and accurate estimate requires realistic values of mode amplitudes. This is provided in a companion paper.

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arXiv2015

Angular momentum redistribution by mixed modes in evolved low-mass stars. II. Spin-down of the core of red giants induced by mixed modes

The detection of mixed modes in subgiants and red giants by the CoRoT and \emph{Kepler} space-borne missions allows us to investigate the internal structure of evolved low-mass stars. In particular, the measurement of the mean core rotation rate as a function of the evolution places stringent constraints on the physical mechanisms responsible for the angular momentum redistribution in stars. It showed that the current stellar evolution codes including the modelling of rotation fail to reproduce the observations. An additional physical process that efficiently extracts angular momentum from the core is thus necessary. Our aim is to assess the ability of mixed modes to do this. To this end, we developed a formalism that provides a modelling of the wave fluxes in both the mean angular momentum and the mean energy equations in a companion paper. In this article, mode amplitudes are modelled based on recent asteroseismic observations, and a quantitative estimate of the angular momentum transfer is obtained. This is performed for a benchmark model of 1.3 $M_{\odot}$ at three evolutionary stages, representative of the evolved pulsating stars observed by CoRoT and Kepler. We show that mixed modes extract angular momentum from the innermost regions of subgiants and red giants. However, this transport of angular momentum from the core is unlikely to counterbalance the effect of the core contraction in subgiants and early red giants. In contrast, for more evolved red giants, mixed modes are found efficient enough to balance and exceed the effect of the core contraction, in particular in the hydrogen-burning shell. Our results thus indicate that mixed modes are a promising candidate to explain the observed spin-down of the core of evolved red giants, but that an other mechanism is to be invoked for subgiants and early red giants.

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arXiv2015

The origin of magnetic fields in hot stars

Observations of stable mainly dipolar magnetic fields at the surface of ~7% of single hot stars indicate that these fields are of fossil origin, i.e. they descend from the seed field in the molecular clouds from which the stars were formed. Recent results confort this theory. First, theoretical work and numerical simulations confirm that the properties of the observed fields correspond to those expected from fossil fields. They also showed that rapid rotation does not modify the surfacic dipolar magnetic configurations, but hinders the stability of fossil fields. This explains the lack of correlation between the magnetic field properties and stellar properties in massive stars. It may also explain the lack of detections of magnetic fields in Be stars, which rotate close to their break-up velocity. In addition, observations by the BinaMIcS collaboration of hot stars in binary systems show that the fraction of those hosting detectable magnetic fields is much smaller than for single hot stars. This could be related to results obtained in simulations of massive star formation, which show that the stronger the magnetic field in the original molecular cloud, the more difficult it is to fragment massive cores to form several stars. Therefore, more and more arguments support the fossil field theory.

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arXiv2014

Rotation and magnetism of Kepler pulsating solar-like stars. Towards asteroseismically calibrated age-rotation relations

Kepler ultra-high precision photometry of long and continuous observations provides a unique dataset in which surface rotation and variability can be studied for thousands of stars. Because many of these old field stars also have independently measured asteroseismic ages, measurements of rotation and activity are particularly interesting in the context of age-rotation-activity relations. In particular, age-rotation relations generally lack good calibrators at old ages, a problem that this Kepler sample of old-field stars is uniquely suited to address. We study the surface rotation and photometric magnetic activity of a subset of 540 solar-like stars on the main- sequence and the subgiant branch for which stellar pulsations have been measured. The rotation period was determined by comparing the results from two different analysis methods: i) the projection onto the frequency domain of the time-period analysis, and ii) the autocorrelation function (ACF) of the light curves. Reliable surface rotation rates were then extracted by comparing the results from two different sets of calibrated data and from the two complementary analyses. We report rotation periods for 310 out of 540 targets (excluding known binaries and candidate planet-host stars); our measurements span a range of 1 to 100 days. The photometric magnetic activity levels of these stars were computed, and for 61.5% of the dwarfs, this level is similar to the range, from minimum to maximum, of the solar magnetic activity. We demonstrate that hot dwarfs, cool dwarfs, and subgiants have very different rotation-age relationships, highlighting the importance of separating out distinct populations when interpreting stellar rotation periods. Our sample of cool dwarf stars with age and metallicity data of the highest quality is consistent with gyrochronology relations reported in the literature.

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arXiv2014

Asteroseismic inference on rotation, gyrochronology and planetary system dynamics of 16 Cygni

The solar analogs 16 Cyg A and 16 Cyg B are excellent asteroseismic targets in the \Kepler field of view and together with a red dwarf and a Jovian planet form an interesting system. For these more evolved Sun-like stars we cannot detect surface rotation with the current \Kepler data but instead use the technique of asteroseimology to determine rotational properties of both 16 Cyg A and B. We find the rotation periods to be $23.8^{+1.5}_{-1.8} \rm \, days$ and $23.2^{+11.5}_{-3.2} \rm \, days$, and the angles of inclination to be $56^{+6}_{-5} \, ^{\circ}$ and $36^{+17}_{-7} \, ^{\circ}$, for A and B respectively. Together with these results we use the published mass and age to suggest that, under the assumption of a solar-like rotation profile, 16 Cyg A could be used when calibrating gyrochronology relations. In addition, we discuss the known 16 Cyg B star-planet eccentricity and measured low obliquity which is consistent with Kozai cycling and tidal theory.

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arXiv2014

Understanding tidal dissipation in gaseous giant planets from their core to their surface

Tidal dissipation in planetary interiors is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the evolution of star-planet and planet-moon systems. Tidal dissipation in planets is intrinsically related to their internal structure. In particular, fluid and solid layers behave differently under tidal forcing. Therefore, their respective dissipation reservoirs have to be compared. In this work, we compute separately the contributions of the potential dense rocky/icy core and of the convective fluid envelope of gaseous giant planets, as a function of core size and mass. We demonstrate that in general both mechanisms must be taken into account.

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arXiv2014

Understanding tidal dissipation in gaseous giant planets : the respective contributions of their core and envelope

Tidal dissipation in planetary interiors is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the evolution of star-planet and planet-moon systems. New constraints are now obtained both in the Solar and exoplanetary systems. Tidal dissipation in planets is intrinsically related to their internal structure. In particular, fluid and solid layers behave differently under tidal forcing. Therefore, their respective dissipation reservoirs have to be compared. In this work, we compute separately the contributions of the potential dense rocky/icy core and of the convective fluid envelope of gaseous giant planets, as a function of core size and mass. We then compare the associated dissipation reservoirs, by evaluating the frequency-average of the imaginary part of the Love numbers $k^2_2$ in each region. We demonstrate that in general both mechanisms must be taken into account.

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arXiv2014

Inertial waves in differentially rotating low-mass stars and tides

Star-planet tidal interactions may result in the excitation of inertial waves in the convective region of stars. Their dissipation plays a prominent role in the long-term orbital evolution of short-period planets. If the star is assumed to be rotating as a solid-body, the waves' Doppler-shifted frequency is restricted to $[-2 Ω, 2 Ω]$ ($Ω$ being the angular velocity of the star) and they can propagate in the entire convective region. However, turbulent convection can sustain differential rotation with an equatorial acceleration (as in the Sun) or deceleration that may modify waves propagation. We thus explore the properties of inertial modes of oscillation in a conically differentially rotating background flow whose angular velocity depends on the latitudinal coordinate only, close to what is expected in the external convective envelope of low-mass stars. We find that their frequency range is broadened by differential rotation, and that they may propagate only in a restricted part of the envelope. In some cases, inertial waves form shear layers around short-period attractor cycles. In others, they exhibit a remarkable behavior when a turning surface or a corotation layer exists in the star. We discuss how all these cases can impact tidal dissipation in stars.

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arXiv2014

Tidal interactions in rotating multiple stars and their impact on their evolution

Tidal dissipation in stars is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the evolution of binary and multiple stars. As in the Earth oceans, it corresponds to the resonant excitation of their eigenmodes of oscillation and their damping. Therefore, it strongly depends on the internal structure, rotation, and dissipative mechanisms in each component. In this work, we present a local analytical modeling of tidal gravito-inertial waves excited in stellar convective and radiative regions respectively. This model allows us to understand in details the properties of the resonant tidal dissipation as a function of the excitation frequencies, the rotation, the stratification, and the viscous and thermal properties of the studied fluid regions. Then, the frequencies, height, width at half-height, and number of resonances as well as the non-resonant equilibrium tide are derived analytically in asymptotic regimes that are relevant in stellar interiors. Finally, we demonstrate how viscous dissipation of tidal waves leads to a strongly erratic orbital evolution in the case of a coplanar binary system. We characterize such a non-regular dynamics as a function of the height and width of resonances, which have been previously characterized thanks to our local fluid model.

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arXiv2014

Scaling laws to understand tidal dissipation in fluid planetary layers and stars

Tidal dissipation is known as one of the main drivers of the secular evolution of planetary systems. It directly results from dissipative mechanisms that occur in planets and stars' interiors and strongly depends on the structure and dynamics of the bodies. This work focuses on the mechanism of viscous friction in stars and planetary layers. A local model is used to study tidal dissipation. It provides general scaling laws that give a qualitative overview of the different possible behaviors of fluid tidal waves. Furthermore, it highlights the sensitivity of dissipation to the tidal frequency and the roles played by the internal parameters of the fluid such as rotation, stratification, viscosity and thermal diffusivity that will impact the spins/orbital architecture in planetary systems.

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arXiv2014

The surface signature of the tidal dissipation of the core in a two-layer planet

Tidal dissipation, which is directly linked to internal structure, is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive systems evolution and govern their architecture. A robust evaluation of its amplitude is thus needed to predict evolution time for spins and orbits and their final states. The purpose of this paper is to refine recent model of the anelastic tidal dissipation in the central dense region of giant planets, commonly assumed to retain a large amount of heavy elements, which constitute an important source of dissipation. The previous paper evaluated the impact of the presence of the static fluid envelope on the tidal deformation of the core and on the associated anelastic tidal dissipation, through the tidal quality factor Qc. We examine here its impact on the corresponding effective anelastic tidal dissipation, through the effective tidal quality factor Qp. We show that the strength of this mechanism mainly depends on mass concentration. In the case of Jupiter- and Saturn-like planets, it can increase their effective tidal dissipation by, around, a factor 2.4 and 2 respectively. In particular, the range of the rheologies compatible with the observations is enlarged compared to the results issued from previous formulations. We derive here an improved expression of the tidal effective factor Qp in terms of the tidal dissipation factor of the core Qc, without assuming the commonly used assumptions. When applied to giant planets, the formulation obtained here allows a better match between the an elastic core's tidal dissipation of a two-layer model and the observations.

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arXiv2014

The BinaMIcS project: understanding the origin of magnetic fields in massive stars through close binary systems

It is now well established that a fraction of the massive (M>8 Msun) star population hosts strong, organised magnetic fields, most likely of fossil origin. The details of the generation and evolution of these fields are still poorly understood. The BinaMIcS project takes an important step towards the understanding of the interplay between binarity and magnetism during the stellar formation and evolution, and in particular the genesis of fossil fields, by studying the magnetic properties of close binary systems. The components of such systems are most likely formed together, at the same time and in the same environment, and can therefore help us to disentangle the role of initial conditions on the magnetic properties of the massive stars from other competing effects such as age or rotation. We present here the main scientific objectives of the BinaMIcS project, as well as preliminary results from the first year of observations from the associated ESPaDOnS and Narval spectropolarimetric surveys.

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