Mode lifetimes of stellar oscillations

Abstract

Context. Successful inference from asteroseismology relies on at least two factors: that the oscillations in the stars have amplitudes large enough to be clearly observable, and that the oscillations themselves be stable enough to enable precise measurements of mode frequencies and other parameters. Solar-like p modes are damped by convection, and hence the stability of the modes depends on the lifetime. Aims. We seek a simple scaling relation between the mean lifetime of the most prominent solar-like p modes in stars, and the fundamental stellar parameters. Methods. We base our search for a relation on the use of stellar equilibrium and pulsation computations of a grid of stellar models, and the first asteroseismic results on lifetimes of main-sequence, sub-giant and red-giant stars.