Letters to the Editor

The universal red-giant oscillation pattern

An automated determination with CoRoT data

¹ LESIA, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Denis Diderot, Observatoire de Paris, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
e-mail: benoit.mosser@obspm.fr
² Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17, 4000 Liège, Belgium
³ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
⁴ Institute for Astronomy (IfA), University of Vienna, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Vienna, Austria
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
⁶ Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, K. U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
⁷ Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, UMR 8617, Université Paris XI, Bâtiment 121, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
⁸ Centro de Física Computacional, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal

Received: 20 July 2010
Accepted: 9 November 2010

Abstract

Aims. The CoRoT and Kepler satellites have provided thousands of red-giant oscillation spectra. The analysis of these spectra requires efficient methods of identifying all eigenmode parameters.

Methods. The assumption of new scaling laws allowed us to construct a theoretical oscillation pattern. We then obtained a highly precise determination of the large separation by correlating the observed patterns with this reference.

Results. We demonstrate that this pattern is universal and are able to unambiguously assign the eigenmode radial orders and angular degrees. This solves one of the remaining problems of asteroseismology, hence allowing precise theoretical investigation of red-giant interiors.