Asteroseismic Investigation of Known Planet Hosts in the Kepler Field

TL;DR

This paper analyzes Kepler data to study stellar oscillations in known planet-hosting stars, providing detailed stellar properties and preliminary density estimates, advancing asteroseismology in exoplanet research.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed asteroseismic analysis of known planet hosts in the Kepler field, demonstrating the potential for characterizing stellar properties using Kepler data.

Findings

Detailed frequency spectrum for HAT-P-7 constrains stellar properties.

Evidence of solar-like oscillations in two other stars.

Preliminary mean density estimates for these stars.

Abstract

In addition to its great potential for characterizing extra-solar planetary systems the Kepler mission is providing unique data on stellar oscillations. A key aspect of Kepler asteroseismology is the application to solar-like oscillations of main-sequence stars. As an example we here consider an initial analysis of data for three stars in the Kepler field for which planetary transits were known from ground-based observations. For one of these, HAT-P-7, we obtain a detailed frequency spectrum and hence strong constraints on the stellar properties. The remaining two stars show definite evidence for solar-like oscillations, yielding a preliminary estimate of their mean densities.