TESS Asteroseismology Conference at the MIT
I am just back from Boston (or I should perhaps say Cambridge) after attending the TASC5/KASC12 Conference at the MIT. Despite the many scientific highlights, it was the news that NASA has extended the TESS Mission through 2022 that really made the headlines. We are thrilled at the many possibilities that this mission extension will open for asteroseismology.
At the conference, I presented a talk on TESS's first asteroseismic known hosts. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is performing a near all-sky survey for planets that transit bright stars. In addition, its excellent photometric precision enables asteroseismology of solar-type and red-giant stars, which exhibit convection-driven, solar-like oscillations. Simulations predict that TESS will detect solar-like oscillations in nearly 100 stars already known to host planets. In my talk, I presented an asteroseismic analysis of the known red-giant host stars HD 212771 and HD 203949, both systems having a long-period planet detected through radial velocities. These are the first detections of oscillations in previously known exoplanet-host stars by TESS, further showcasing the mission's potential to conduct asteroseismology of red-giant stars. The figure below shows the power spectra of HD 212771 (left) and HD 203949 (right), with beautiful power excesses due to solar-like oscillations at ~230 μHz and ~30 μHz, respectively. Fundamental properties of both stars were estimated through a grid-based modeling approach that used global asteroseismic parameters as input. I discussed the evolutionary state of HD 203949 in depth and noted the large discrepancy between its asteroseismic mass and the mass quoted in the discovery paper, implying a change > 30% in the planet's inferred mass. Assuming HD 203949 to be in the red clump, I discussed how the planet orbiting this star could have avoided engulfment at the tip of the red-giant branch. Finally, HD 212771 was observed by K2 during its Campaign 3, thus allowing for a preliminary comparison of the asteroseismic performances of TESS and K2. I will soon be submitting a paper to ApJ describing this work.
And, of course, we ended the week in style at Fenway Park, watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees (once again).