Asteroseismology of solar-type stars with K2

TL;DR

This paper reports the first detection of solar-type star oscillations using K2 data, analyzes detection thresholds, and discusses improvements for future observations.

Contribution

It presents the first asteroseismic detections with K2 and evaluates detection capabilities and potential enhancements for observing solar-type stars.

Findings

Detected oscillations in solar-type stars with K2 Campaign 1 data

Identified detection thresholds based on photometric performance

Projected improvements could enable detection of higher-frequency oscillations

Abstract

We present the first detections by the NASA K2 Mission of oscillations in solar-type stars, using short-cadence data collected during K2 Campaign\,1 (C1). We understand the asteroseismic detection thresholds for C1-like levels of photometric performance, and we can detect oscillations in subgiants having dominant oscillation frequencies around $1000\,\rm \mu Hz$. Changes to the operation of the fine-guidance sensors are expected to give significant improvements in the high-frequency performance from C3 onwards. A reduction in the excess high-frequency noise by a factor of two-and-a-half in amplitude would bring main-sequence stars with dominant oscillation frequencies as high as ${\simeq 2500}\,\rm \mu Hz$ into play as potential asteroseismic targets for K2.