Constraining convective regions with asteroseismic linear structural inversions

TL;DR

This paper develops new asteroseismic inversion techniques using custom kernels to directly probe and constrain the properties of convective regions in stellar interiors, improving stellar modeling accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces novel kernels related to entropy proxies and constructs new seismic indicators for convective cores and envelopes, enhancing the diagnostic power of asteroseismology.

Findings

Indicators successfully probe convective regions in stellar models.

Entropy-sensitive constraints improve stellar model selection.

Core indicator is flexible with seismic data requirements.

Abstract

Context. Convective regions in stellar models are always associated with uncertainties, for example due to extra-mixing or the possible inaccurate position of the transition from convective to radiative transport of energy. These have a strong impact on stellar models and their fundamental parameters. The most promising method to reduce these uncertainties is to use asteroseismology to derive diagnostics probing the structural characteristics of these regions. Aims. We wish to use custom-made integrated quantities to improve the capabilities of seismology to probe convective regions in stellar interiors. We hope to increase the number of indicators obtained with structural seismic inversions to provide additional constraints on stellar models and the fundamental parameters determined from theoretical modeling. Methods. First, we present new kernels associated with a proxy of the entropy in stellar interiors. We then show how these kernels can be used to build custom-made integrated quantities probing convective regions inside stellar models. We present two indicators suited to probe convective cores and envelopes, respectively, and test them on artificial data. Results. We show that it is possible to probe both convective cores and envelopes using appropriate indicators obtained with structural inversion techniques. These indicators provide direct constraints on a proxy of the entropy of the stellar plasma, sensitive to the characteristics of convective regions. These constraints can then be used to improve the modeling of solar-like stars by providing an additional degree of selection of models obtained from classical forward modeling approaches. We also show that in order to obtain very accurate indicators, we need l = 3 modes for the envelope but that the core-conditions indicator is more flexible in terms of the seismic data required for its use.