A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Advancing the accuracy in age determinations of old-disk stars using an oscillating red giant in an eclipsing binary
Authors: Thomsen, J. S.; Miglio, A.; Brogaard, K.; Montalbán, J.; Tailo, M.; van Rossem, W. E.; Casali, G.; Jones, D.; Arentoft, T.; Casagrande, L.; Sebastian, D.; Buldgen, G.; Triaud, A. H. M. J.; Matteuzzi, M.; Stokholm, A.; Lund, M. N.; Mosser, B.; Maxted, P. F. L.; Southworth, J.; Gadeberg, J. T.; Koivisto, N.; Gray, Z.; Pinter, V.; Matilainen, K.; Djupvik, A. A.; Jessen-Hansen, J.; Grundahl, F.; Slumstrup, D.; Frandsen, S.
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Publishing place: LES ULIS CEDEX A
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Journal name in source: Astronomy & Astrophysics
Journal acronym: ASTRON ASTROPHYS
Article number: A152
Volume: 699
Number of pages: 27
ISSN: 0004-6361
eISSN: 1432-0746
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202453347
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202453347
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499281972
Context. The study of resonant oscillation modes in low-mass red giant branch stars enables us to infer their ages with exceptional (similar to 10%) precision. This unlocks the possibility to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the Milky Way at early cosmic times. Ensuring the accuracy of such a precise age scale is a fundamental but difficult challenge. Because the age of red giant branch stars primarily hinges on their mass, an independent mass determination for an oscillating red giant star provides the means for this assessment.
Aims. We analysed the old eclipsing binary KIC 10001167, which hosts an oscillating red giant branch star and is a member of the thick disk of the Milky Way. Of the known red giants in eclipsing binaries, this is the only member of the thick disk whose asteroseismic signal is of a high enough quality to test the seismic mass inference at the 2% level.
Methods. We measured the binary orbit and obtain fundamental stellar parameters through a combined analysis of light-curve eclipses and radial velocities, and we performed a detailed asteroseismic, photospheric, and Galactic kinematic characterisation of the red giant and the binary system.
Results. We show that the dynamically determined mass 0.9337 +/- 0.0077 M-circle dot (0.8%) of this 10 Gyr old star agrees within 1.4% with the mass inferred from a detailed modelling of individual pulsation mode frequencies (1.6%). This is now the only thick-disk stellar system that hosts a red giant for which the mass has been determined asteroseismically with a precision better than 2% and through a model-independent method at a precision of 1%. We hereby affirm the potential of asteroseismology to define an accurate age scale for ancient stars to trace the Milky Way assembly history.
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Funding information in the publication:
JST acknowledge support from Bologna University, "MUR FARE Grant Duets CUP J33C21000410001". KB, JM, MT, GC, AM, MM acknowledge support from the ERC Consolidator Grant funding scheme (project ASTEROCHRONOMETRY, https://www.asterochronometry.eu, G.A. n. 772293). Funding for the Stellar Astrophysics Centre is provided by The Danish National Research Foundation (Grant agreement no.: DNRF106). Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, owned in collaboration by the University of Turku and Aarhus University, and operated jointly by Aarhus University, the University of Turku and the University of Oslo, representing Denmark, Finland and Norway, the University of Iceland and Stockholm University at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. This research is also supported by work funded from the European Research Council (ERC), the European Union's Horizon 2020 research, and innovation programme (grant agreement no 803193/BEBOP). DJ acknowledges support from the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (MCIU/AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with reference PID-2022-136653NA-I00 (DOI:10.13039/501100011033). DJ also acknowledges support from the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (MCIU/AEI) and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR with reference CNS2023-143910 (DOI:10.13039/501100011033). GB acknowledges funding from the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) as a postdoctoral researcher. This work was supported by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council under grant number ST/Y002563/1. This paper includes data collected by the Kepler mission. Funding for the Kepler mission is provided by the NASA Science Mission directorate.
