Evidence for the impact of stellar activity on the detectability of solar-like oscillations observed by Kepler

TL;DR

This study shows that higher stellar activity levels significantly reduce the detectability of solar-like oscillations in stars observed by Kepler, indicating magnetic activity's role in damping stellar oscillations.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale statistical evidence linking stellar magnetic activity to the suppression of solar-like oscillations in Kepler data.

Findings

Number of stars with detected oscillations decreases with activity

Magnetic activity inhibits near-surface convection

Activity impacts oscillation amplitudes

Abstract

We use photometric observations of solar-type stars, made by the NASA Kepler Mission, to conduct a statistical study of the impact of stellar surface activity on the detectability of solar-like oscillations. We find that the number of stars with detected oscillations fall significantly with increasing levels of activity. The results present strong evidence for the impact of magnetic activity on the properties of near-surface convection in the stars, which appears to inhibit the amplitudes of the stochastically excited, intrinsically damped solar-like oscillations.