Evidence for the impact of stellar activity on the detectability of solar-like oscillations observed by Kepler

W. J. Chaplin, T. R. Bedding, A. Bonanno, A.-M. Broomhall, R. A. García, S. Hekker, D. Huber, G. A. Verner, S. Basu, Y. Elsworth, G. Houdek, S. Mathur, B. Mosser, R. New, I. R. Stevens, T. Appourchaux, C. Karoff, T. S. Metcalfe, J. Molenda-Żakowicz, M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro, M. J. Thompson, J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, R. L. Gilliland, S. D. Kawaler, H. Kjeldsen, J. Ballot, O. Benomar, E. Corsaro, T. L. Campante, P. Gaulme, S. J. Hale, R. Handberg, E. Jarvis, C. Régulo, I. W. Roxburgh, D. Salabert, D. Stello, F. Mullally, J. Li, B. Wohler

Abstract
We use photometric observations of solar-type stars, made by the NASA Kepler Mission, to conduct a statistical study of the impact of stellar surface activity on the detectability of solar-like oscillations. We find that the number of stars with detected oscillations fall significantly with increasing levels of activity. The results present strong evidence for the impact of magnetic activity on the properties of near-surface convection in the stars, which appears to inhibit the amplitudes of the stochastically excited, intrinsically damped solar-like oscillations.

Keywords
stars: oscillations - stars: interiors - stars: late-type – stars: activity – stars: magnetic field

The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume 732, Page L5_1
May 2011

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