Paper detail

Accurate fundamental parameters of CoRoT asteroseismic targets: the solar-like stars HD 49933, HD 175726, HD 181420 and HD 181906

The CoRoT satellite has provided high-quality light curves of several solar-like stars. Analysis of the light curves provides oscillation frequencies that make it possible to probe the interior of the stars. However, additional constraints on the fundamental parameters of the stars are important for the theoretical modelling to be successful. We will estimate the fundamental parameters (mass, radius and luminosity) of the first four solar-like targets to be observed in the asteroseismic field. In addition, we will determine their effective temperature, metallicity and detailed abundance pattern. To constrain the stellar mass, radius and age we use the SHOTGUN software which compares the location of the stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram with theoretical evolution models. This method takes into account the uncertainties of the observed parameters including the large separation determined from the solar-like oscillations. We determine the effective temperatures and abundance patterns in the stars from the analysis of high-resolution spectra. We have determined the mass, radius and luminosity of the four CoRoT targets to within 5-10 percent, 2-4 percent and 5-13 percent, respectively. The quality of the stellar spectra determines how well we can constrain the effective temperature. For the two best spectra we get 1-sigma uncertainties below 60 K and for the other two 100-150 K. The uncertainty on the surface gravity is less than 0.08 dex for three stars while for HD 181906 it is 0.15 dex. The reason for the larger uncertainty is that the spectrum has two components with a luminosity ratio of Lp/Ls = 0.50+-0.15. While Hipparcos astrometric data strongly suggest it is a binary star we find evidence that the fainter star may be a background star, since it is less luminous but hotter.