Red Giants observed with CoRoT

TL;DR

This paper presents CoRoT satellite observations of red giants, revealing non-radial oscillation modes and enabling detailed asteroseismology, which enhances understanding of stellar interiors and oscillation characteristics.

Contribution

It provides the first extensive dataset of high-precision, long-duration photometry of red giants, revealing non-radial modes and supporting statistical analysis of solar-like oscillations.

Findings

Detection of non-radial modes with long lifetimes

Observation of solar-like oscillations in many red giants

Potential for detailed asteroseismology of red giants

Abstract

Observations of red (G-K)-giant stars with the CoRoT satellite provide unprecedented information on the stochastically excited oscillations in these stars. The long time series of nearly uninterrupted high-cadence and high-precision photometry revealed the presence of non-radial modes with long lifetimes, which opens the possibility to perform asteroseismology on these stars. Also, the large number of red giants, for which solar-like oscillations are now observed, allows for a more statistical investigation of the characteristics of solar-like oscillations in red giants.