Aspects of observational red giant population seismology

TL;DR

This paper discusses the use of data from CoRoT and Kepler to study red giant star populations through seismology, highlighting technical aspects, biases, and statistical methods for analysis.

Contribution

It provides an overview of satellite technical details, addresses target selection biases, and advocates for kernel density estimates in population analysis.

Findings

Identification of key biases affecting population sampling

Advocacy for kernel density estimates over histograms

Emphasis on technical considerations in space-based asteroseismology

Abstract

The space missions CoRoT and Kepler provide us with large samples of red giant stars wherein non-radial solar-like oscillations can be detected. This leads to the exciting opportunity to do population seismology. In this paper we give a short overview of some relevant technical aspects of the two satellites, we list and comment on some important target selection biases relevant for population seismology, and we make a case to use kernel density estimates as an alternative for histograms to characterize population characteristics