General
The principal objectives of this project are: 1) to study the structure and dynamics of the solar interior, 2) to extend this study to other stars, 3) to search for extrasolar planets using photometric methods (primarily by transits of their host stars) and their characterization (using radial velocity information) and 4) the study of the planetary atmospheres.
To reach our first objective, we use Global Helioseismology (analysis of the solar oscillation eigenmodes) and Local Helioseismology (that uses travel waves). Solar seismology allows to accurately infer information about the internal structure and dynamics of the Sun,. This project covers the various necessary aspects to attain the aforementioned objectives: instrumental, observational, reduction, analysis and interpretation of data and, finally, theoretical developments of inversion techniques and development of structure and evolution models.
On the other hand, the Astroseismology aims to obtain a similar knowledge of other stars. Thanks to the huge number of stars observed by CoRoT, Kepler and TESS space missions it is possible to extract seismic global parameters of hundreds of stars; both solar type and red giants. Furthermore, the recent deployment and beginning of observations with the high precision spectrographs of the SONG (Stellar Observations Network Group) ground-based telescopes will substantially improve the characterization of the eigenmodes spectrum in bright stars.
The strategy of using planetary transits to discover new planets around other stars consists of the photometric detection of the dimming of the light of the star when one of its planets passes, or ‘transits’ in front of it. Currently this method is the preferred one for the study of small planets, not only due to its sensitivity, but also because this method allows a more detailed investigation of the planets found (e.g. Planetary atmospheres). This technique is similar to the one that is used for helio- and asteroseismology and so some of its methods are a logical extension from that. However, it is also important to develop new algorithms and observing methods for the unequivocal detection and analysis of planets and to be able to distinguish them from false alarms.
The current horizon for studies of exoplanets with space missions involves new missions, beginning with the launch of CHEOPS, followed by TESS, JWST and in 2026, PLATO. Thus, there is presently a window of opportunity for ground-based facilities, and we are pursuing observations using mainly TNG, NOT y GTC.
Members
Results
Milestones
- Beck et al. (2024, A&A, 682, A7) increased the number of known solar-like oscillators in binary systems by about an order of magnitude. Such large sample allowed us to study the effects co-evolution of stellar evolution on the evolution of the binary orbits. Featured as "ESA Gaia image of the Week".
- Following the participation to the roadmaps in astrophysics for the ESA’s Human and Robotic Exploration Directorate in 2021, a paper in npj Microgravity was published where the key quetions in stellar physics were exposed along with proposed experiments for the future as part of that program (Mathur & Santos 2024).
- Merc et al. (2024, A&A, 683, A84) presented the first analysis of accretion-induced flickering variability in symbiotic binary stars from TESS lightcurves. This study significantly enlarged the known sample with such variability. This suggests that accretion disks are common in symbiotic stars.
- Solar magnetic activity in cycles 23&24 were analyzed by tracking GOLF low-degree p-mode frequency shifts across 3 bands, probing depths of 74–1575 km. Results suggest magnetic variations mainly occur near the surface. In cycle 24, shifts appeared earlier at high latitudes and coincided with surface activity near the equator, with stronger shifts at shallower depths.
