Testing the asteroseismic scaling relations for Red Giants with Eclipsing Binaries Observed by Kepler

TL;DR

This study validates the accuracy of asteroseismic scaling relations for red giants by comparing them with precise measurements from eclipsing binaries, revealing systematic overestimations in radius and mass.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale validation of asteroseismic scaling relations using eclipsing binary data for red giants, highlighting systematic biases.

Findings

Asteroseismic radii are overestimated by about 5%.

Asteroseismic masses are overestimated by about 15%.

Oscillations in close binary red giants can be suppressed.

Abstract

Given the potential of ensemble asteroseismology for understanding fundamental properties of large numbers of stars, it is critical to determine the accuracy of the scaling relations on which these measurements are based. From several powerful validation techniques, all indications so far show that stellar radius estimates from the asteroseismic scaling relations are accurate to within a few percent. Eclipsing binary systems hosting at least one star with detectable solar-like oscillations constitute the ideal test objects for validating asteroseismic radius and mass inferences. By combining radial-velocity measurements and photometric time series of eclipses, it is possible to determine the masses and radii of each component of a double-lined spectroscopic binary. We report the results of a four-year radial-velocity survey performed with the \'echelle spectrometer of the Astrophysical Research Consortium's 3.5-m telescope and the APOGEE spectrometer at Apache Point Observatory. We compare the masses and radii of 10 red giants obtained by combining radial velocities and eclipse photometry with the estimates from the asteroseismic scaling relations. We find that the asteroseismic scaling relations overestimate red-giant radii by about 5% on average and masses by about 15% for stars at various stages of red-giant evolution. Systematic overestimation of mass leads to underestimation of stellar age, which can have important implications for ensemble asteroseismology used for Galactic studies. As part of a second objective, where asteroseismology is used for understanding binary systems, we confirm that oscillations of red giants in close binaries can be suppressed enough to be undetectable, an hypothesis that was proposed in a previous work.