Oscillation mode linewidths and heights of 23 main-sequence stars observed by Kepler^⋆

¹ Univ. Paris-Sud, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, UMR 8617, CNRS, Bâtiment 121, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
e-mail: Thierry.Appourchaux@ias.psud.fr
² Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, 400005 Mumbai, India
³ Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA), School of Physics, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006 Sydney, Australia
⁴ Department of Astronomy, The University of Tokyo, 113-033 Tokyo, Japan
⁵ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁷ Universidad de La Laguna, Dpto. de Astrofísica, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁸ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS UMR 8109, UPMC, Université Denis Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
⁹ Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
¹⁰ Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Université Paris Diderot, IRFU/SAp, Centre de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France

Received: 21 December 2013
Accepted: 6 April 2014

Abstract

Context. Solar-like oscillations have been observed by Kepler and CoRoT in many solar-type stars, thereby providing a way to probe the stars using asteroseismology.

Aims. We provide the mode linewidths and mode heights of the oscillations of various stars as a function of frequency and of effective temperature.

Methods. We used a time series of nearly two years of data for each star. The 23 stars observed belong to the simple or F-like category. The power spectra of the 23 main-sequence stars were analysed using both maximum likelihood estimators and Bayesian estimators, providing individual mode characteristics such as frequencies, linewidths, and mode heights. We study the source of systematic errors in the mode linewidths and mode heights, and we present a way to correct these errors with respect to a common reference fit.

Results. Using the correction, we can explain all sources of systematic errors, which could be reduced to less than ±15% for mode linewidths and heights, and less than ±5% for amplitude, when compared to the reference fit. The effect of a different estimated stellar background and a different estimated splitting will provide frequency-dependent systematic errors that might affect the comparison with theoretical mode linewidth and mode height, therefore affecting the understanding of the physical nature of these parameters. All other sources of relative systematic errors are less dependent upon frequency. We also provide the dependence of the so-called linewidth dip in the middle of the observed frequency range as a function of effective temperature. We show that the depth of the dip decreases with increasing effective temperature. The dependence of the dip on effective temperature may imply that the mixing length parameter α or the convective flux may increase with effective temperature.