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Science 24 October 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5901, pp. 558 - 560
DOI: 10.1126/science.1163004
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Reports

CoRoT Measures Solar-Like Oscillations and Granulation in Stars Hotter Than the Sun

Eric Michel,1* Annie Baglin,1 Michel Auvergne,1 Claude Catala,1 Reza Samadi,1 Frédéric Baudin,2 Thierry Appourchaux,2 Caroline Barban,1 Werner W. Weiss,3 Gabrielle Berthomieu,4 Patrick Boumier,2 Marc-Antoine Dupret,1 Rafael A. Garcia,5 Malcolm Fridlund,6 Rafael Garrido,7 Marie-Jo Goupil,1 Hans Kjeldsen,8 Yveline Lebreton,9 Benoît Mosser,1 Arlette Grotsch-Noels,10 Eduardo Janot-Pacheco,11 Janine Provost,4 Ian W. Roxburgh,12,1 Anne Thoul,10 Thierry Toutain,13 Didier Tiphène,1 Sylvaine Turck-Chieze,5 Sylvie D. Vauclair,14 Gérard P. Vauclair,14 Conny Aerts,15 Georges Alecian,16 Jérôme Ballot,17 Stéphane Charpinet,14 Anne-Marie Hubert,9 François Lignières,14 Philippe Mathias,18 Mario J. P. F. G. Monteiro,19 Coralie Neiner,9 Ennio Poretti,20 José Renan de Medeiros,21 Ignasi Ribas,22 Michel L. Rieutord,14 Teodoro Roca Cortés,23 Konstanze Zwintz3

Oscillations of the Sun have been used to understand its interior structure. The extension of similar studies to more distant stars has raised many difficulties despite the strong efforts of the international community over the past decades. The CoRoT (Convection Rotation and Planetary Transits) satellite, launched in December 2006, has now measured oscillations and the stellar granulation signature in three main sequence stars that are noticeably hotter than the sun. The oscillation amplitudes are about 1.5 times as large as those in the Sun; the stellar granulation is up to three times as high. The stellar amplitudes are about 25% below the theoretic values, providing a measurement of the nonadiabaticity of the process ruling the oscillations in the outer layers of the stars.

1 Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation Astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris, CNRS (UMR 8109)-Université Paris 6 Pierre et Marie Curie-Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon, France.
2 Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), Université Paris-Sud 11, CNRS (UMR 8617), Bâtiment 121, F-91405 Orsay, France.
3 Institute for Astronomy, University of Vienna, Tuerkenschanzstrasse 17, A-1180 Vienna, Austria.
4 Laboratoire Cassiopée, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS (UMR 6202), BP 4229, F-06304 Nice Cedex 04, France.
5 Laboratoire Astrophysique Interactions Multi-échelles (AIM), Commisariat àl'Energie Atomique/DSM (Direction des Sciences de la Matiére)-CNRS-Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, CEA, IRFU (Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers), SAp (Service d'Astrophysique), F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.
6 Astrophysics Mission Division, Research and Scientific Support Department, European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Center, SCI-SA, Post Office Box 299, Keplerlaan 1 NL-2200AG, Noordwijk, Netherlands.
7 Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC) C/Camino Bajo de Huétor, 50 E-18008 Granada, Spain.
8 Danish AstroSeismology Centre (DASC) Institut for Fysik og Astronomi Aarhus Universitet Bygning 1520, Ny Munkegade DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
9 Laboratoire Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique et Instrumentation (GEPI), Observatoire de Paris, CNRS (UMR 8111), Place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon, France.
10 Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17, B-4000 Liège, Belgique.
11 Instituto de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas, Rua do Matao, 1226/05508-090 Sao Paulo, Brazil.
12 Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
13 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston B15 2TT, UK.
14 Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes, Université de Toulouse, CNRS (UMR 5572), 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France.
15 Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Departement Natuurkunde en Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200 D, B -3001 Leuven, Belgium.
16 Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH), Observatoire de Paris, CNRS (UMR 8102), Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, 5 Place Jules Janssen, F-92190 Meudon, France.
17 Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, Postfach 1317, D-85741 Garching, Germany.
18 Laboratoire Hippolyte Fizeau, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS (UMR 6525), Université Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Campus Valrose, F-06108 Nice Cedex 2, France.
19 Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal.
20 Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Via Emilio Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy.
21 Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 59072-970, Natal RN, Brasil.
22 Institut de Ciencies de l'Espai (CSIC-IEEC) Campus UAB Facultat de Ciències, Torre C5-parell, 2a pl 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
23 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38207 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Eric.Michel{at}obspm.fr

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Solar-Like Oscillations in a Massive Star.
K. Belkacem, R. Samadi, M.-J. Goupil, L. Lefevre, F. Baudin, S. Deheuvels, M.-A. Dupret, T. Appourchaux, R. Scuflaire, M. Auvergne, et al. (2009)
Science 324, 1540-1542
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