Beyond Gaia: Asteroseismic Distances of M Giants Using Ground-based Transient Surveys

Evolved stars near the tip of the red giant branch show solar-like oscillations with periods spanning hours to months and amplitudes ranging from ∼1 mmag to ∼100 mmag. The systematic detection of the resulting photometric variations with ground-based telescopes would enable the application of astero...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astronomical journal 2020-07, Vol.160 (1), p.18
Main Authors: Auge, Connor, Huber, Daniel, Heinze, Aren, Shappee, B. J., Tonry, John, Chakrabarti, Sukanya, Sanderson, Robyn E., Denneau, Larry, Flewelling, Heather, Holoien, Thomas W.-S., Kochanek, C. S., Pignata, Giuliano, Sickafoose, Amanda, Stalder, Brian, Stanek, K. Z., Stello, Dennis, Thompson, Todd A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Asteroids
Asteroseismology
Astronomical models
Astronomy
Distance measurement
Extrasolar planets
Galactic evolution
Galaxies
Ground-based astronomy
M giant stars
Planet detection
Red giant stars
Satellites
Sky surveys (astronomy)
Solar oscillations
Space telescopes
Spaceborne telescopes
Stellar distance
Stellar evolution
Stellar models
Stellar seismology
Supernovae
Telescopes
Terrestrial environments
Transients (astronomy)
Transit
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Evolved stars near the tip of the red giant branch show solar-like oscillations with periods spanning hours to months and amplitudes ranging from ∼1 mmag to ∼100 mmag. The systematic detection of the resulting photometric variations with ground-based telescopes would enable the application of asteroseismology to a much larger and more distant sample of stars than is currently accessible with space-based telescopes such as Kepler or the ongoing Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission. We present an asteroseismic analysis of 493 M giants using data from two ground-based surveys: the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) and the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN). By comparing the extracted frequencies with constraints from Kepler, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment, and Gaia we demonstrate that ground-based transient surveys allow accurate distance measurements to oscillating M giants with a precision of ∼15%. Using stellar population synthesis models we predict that ATLAS and ASAS-SN can provide asteroseismic distances to ∼2 × 106 galactic M giants out to typical distances of 20-50 kpc, vastly improving the reach of Gaia and providing critical constraints for Galactic archeology and galactic dynamics.
ISSN:0004-6256
1538-3881
DOI:10.3847/1538-3881/ab91bf