Ensemble asteroseismology of solar-type stars with the NASA Kepler Mission

W. J. Chaplin (1) , H. Kjeldsen (2) , J. Christensen-Dalsgaard (2) , S. Basu (3) , A. Miglio (1) , T. Appourchaux (4) , T. R. Bedding (5) , Y. Elsworth (1) , R.A. García (6) , R. L. Gilliland (7) , L. Girardi (8) , G. Houdek (9) , C. Karoff (2) , S. D. Kawaler (10) , T. S. Metcalfe (11) , J. Molenda-Żakowicz (12) , M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro (13) , M. J. Thompson (11) , G. A. Verner (1) , J. Ballot (14) , A. Bonanno (15) , I. M. Brandão (13) , A.-M. Broomhall (1) , H. Bruntt (2) , T. L. Campante (2) , E. Corsaro (15) , O. L. Creevey (16, 17) , G. Doğan (2) , L. Esch (3) , N. Gai (3) , P. Gaulme (4) , S. J. Hale (1) , R. Handberg (2) , S. Hekker (1) , D. Huber (5) , A. Jiménez (16, 17) , S. Mathur (11) , A. Mazumdar (18) , B. Mosser (19) , R. New (20) , M. H. Pinsonneault (21) , D. Pricopi (22) , P.-O. Quirion (23) , C. Régulo (16, 17) , D. Salabert (16, 17) , A. M. Serenelli (24) , V. Silva Aguirre (25) , S. G. Sousa (13) , D. Stello (5) , I. R. Stevens (1) , M. D. Suran (22) , K. Uytterhoeven (6) , T. R. White (5) , W. J. Borucki (26) , T. M. Brown (27) , J. M. Jenkins (26) , K. Kinemuchi (26) , J. van Cleve (26) , T. C. Klaus (26)

1 School of Physics and Astronomy
2 Aarhus University [Aarhus]
3 Yale University [New Haven]
4 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
5 SIfA - Sydney Institute for Astronomy
6 AIM (UMR_7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
7 STSci - Space Telescope Science Institute
8 OAPD - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
9 University of Vienna [Vienna]
10 ISU - Iowa State University
11 HAO - High Altitude Observatory
12 UWr - University of Wrocław [Poland]
13 CAUP - Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto
14 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
15 OACT - INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania
16 ULL - Universidad de La Laguna [Tenerife - SP]
17 IAC - Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
18 HBNI - Homi Bhabha National Institute
19 LESIA (UMR_8109) - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
20 MERI - Materials and Engineering Research Institute [Sheffield]
21 OSU - Ohio State University [Columbus]
22 Astronomical Institute of Romanian Academy
23 CSA - Canadian Space Agency
24 IEEC-CSIC - Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya
25 Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
26 ARC - NASA Ames Research Center
27 LCO - Las Cumbres Observatory

In addition to its search for extrasolar planets, the NASA Kepler mission provides exquisite data on stellar oscillations. We report the detections of oscillations in 500 solar-type stars in the Kepler field of view, an ensemble that is large enough to allow statistical studies of intrinsic stellar properties (such as mass, radius, and age) and to test theories of stellar evolution. We find that the distribution of observed masses of these stars shows intriguing differences to predictions from models of synthetic stellar populations in the Galaxy

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics [astro-ph.SR]

W. J. Chaplin, H. Kjeldsen, J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, S. Basu, A. Miglio, et al.. Ensemble asteroseismology of solar-type stars with the NASA Kepler Mission. Science, 2011, 332 (6026), pp.213-216. ⟨10.1126/science.1201827⟩. ⟨cea-00863792⟩