Red giant seismology: observations

Abstract

The CoRoT and Kepler missions provide us with thousands of red-giant light curves that allow a very precise asteroseismic study of these objects. Before CoRoT and Kepler, the red-giant oscillation patterns remained obscure. Now, these spectra are much more clear and unveil many crucial interior structure properties. For thousands of red giants, we can derive from the seismic data precise estimates of the stellar mass and radius, the evolutionary status of the giants (with a clear difference between clump and RGB stars), the internal differential rotation, the mass loss, the distance of the stars... Analysing this mass of information is made easy by the identification of the largely homologous red-giant oscillation patterns. For the first time, both pressure and mixed mode oscillation patterns can be precisely depicted. The mixed-mode analysis allows us, for instance, to probe directly the stellar core. Fine details completing the red-giant oscillation pattern then provide further information for a more detailed view on the interior structure, including differential rotation.