Characterizing solar-type stars from full-length Kepler data sets using the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal ^⋆

¹ Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
e-mail: orlagh.creevey@oca.eu
² Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut St. Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
³ Visiting Scientist, National Solar Observatory, 3665 Discovery Dr., Boulder, CO 80303, USA
⁴ Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DRF-CNRS, Université Paris 7 Diderot, IRFU/SAp, Centre de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁵ Center for Space Science, NYUAD Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, UAE
⁶ Computational & Information Systems Laboratory, NCAR, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA

Received: 8 August 2016
Accepted: 29 January 2017

Abstract

The Kepler space telescope yielded unprecedented data for the study of solar-like oscillations in other stars. The large samples of multi-year observations posed an enormous data analysis challenge that has only recently been surmounted. Asteroseismic modeling has become more sophisticated over time, with better methods gradually developing alongside the extended observations and improved data analysis techniques. We apply the latest version of the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal (AMP) to the full-length Kepler data sets for 57 stars, comprising planetary hosts, binaries, solar-analogs, active stars, and for validation purposes, the Sun. From an analysis of the derived stellar properties for the full sample, we identify a variation of the mixing-length parameter with atmospheric properties. We also derive a linear relation between the stellar age and a characteristic frequency separation ratio. In addition, we find that the empirical correction for surface effects suggested by Kjeldsen and coworkers is adequate for solar-type stars that are not much hotter (T_eff≲6200 K) or significantly more evolved (log g≳4.2, ⟨ Δν ⟩≳80 μHz) than the Sun. Precise parallaxes from the Gaia mission and future observations from TESS and PLATO promise to improve the reliability of stellar properties derived from asteroseismology.