Asteroseismology of the open clusters NGC 6791, NGC 6811, and NGC 6819 from nineteen months of Kepler photometry

TL;DR

This study uses nineteen months of Kepler photometry to analyze solar-like oscillations in 115 red giants across three open clusters, revealing correlations between asteroseismic parameters and stellar properties, and identifying stellar evolutionary states.

Contribution

It provides detailed asteroseismic analysis of red giants in multiple clusters, highlighting differences in stellar mass and structure, and distinguishing evolutionary phases through mode period spacing.

Findings

Evidence for mass differences among cluster stars

Correlation between asteroseismic parameters and stellar properties

Identification of stellar evolutionary states and special cases

Abstract

We studied solar-like oscillations in 115 red giants in the three open clusters NGC 6791, NGC 6811, and NGC 6819, based on photometric data covering more than 19 months with NASA's Kepler space telescope. We present the asteroseismic diagrams of the asymptotic parameters \delta\nu_02, \delta\nu_01 and \epsilon, which show clear correlation with fundamental stellar parameters such as mass and radius. When the stellar populations from the clusters are compared, we see evidence for a difference in mass of the red giant branch stars, and possibly a difference in structure of the red clump stars, from our measurements of the small separations \delta\nu_02 and \delta\nu_01. Ensemble \'{e}chelle diagrams and upper limits to the linewidths of l = 0 modes as a function of \Delta\nu of the clusters NGC 6791 and NGC 6819 are also shown, together with the correlation between the l = 0 ridge width and the T_eff of the stars. Lastly, we distinguish between red giant branch and red clump stars through the measurement of the period spacing of mixed dipole modes in 53 stars among all the three clusters to verify the stellar classification from the color-magnitude diagram. These seismic results also allow us to identify a number of special cases, including evolved blue stragglers and binaries, as well as stars in late He-core burning phases, which can be potentially interesting targets for detailed theoretical modeling.