The evolved solar-type stars 16 Cyg A & B have long been studied as solar analogs, yielding a glimpse into the future of our own Sun. The orbital period of the binary system is too long to provide meaningful dynamical constraints on the stellar properties, but asteroseismology can help because the stars are among the brightest in the Kepler field. We present an analysis of three months of nearly uninterrupted photometry of 16 Cyg A & B from the Kepler space telescope. We extract a total of 46 and 41 oscillation frequencies for the two components respectively, including a clear detection of octupole (l=3) modes in both stars. We derive the properties of each star independently using the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal, fitting the individual oscillation frequencies and other observational constraints simultaneously. We evaluate the systematic uncertainties from an ensemble of results generated by a variety of stellar evolution codes and fitting methods. The optimal models derived by fitting each component individually yield a common age (t = 6.8 ± 0.4 Gyr) and initial composition (Z i = 0.024 ± 0.002, Y i = 0.25 ± 0.01) within the uncertainties, as expected for the components of a binary system, bolstering our confidence in the reliability of asteroseismic techniques. The longer data sets that will ultimately become available will allow future studies of differential rotation, convection zone depths, and long-term changes due to stellar activity cycles.

We present initial results on some of the properties of open clusters NGC 6791 and NGC 6819 derived from asteroseismic data obtained by NASA's Kepler mission. In addition to estimating the mass, radius, and log g of stars on the red giant branch (RGB) of these clusters, we estimate the distance to the clusters and their ages. Our model-independent estimate of the distance modulus of NGC 6791 is (m − M ) 0 = 13.11 ± 0.06. We find (m − M ) 0 = 11.85 ± 0.05 for NGC 6819. The average mass of stars on the RGB of NGC 6791 is 1.20 ± 0.01 M , while that of NGC 6819 is 1.68 ± 0.03 M . It should be noted that we do not have data that cover the entire RGB and the actual mass will be somewhat lower. We have determined model-dependent estimates of ages of these clusters. We find ages between 6.8 and 8.6 Gyr for NGC 6791, however, most sets of models give ages around 7 Gyr. We obtain ages between 2 and 2.4 Gyr for NGC 6819.

Recently the number of main-sequence and subgiant stars exhibiting solar-like oscillations that are resolved into individual mode frequencies has increased dramatically. While only a few such data sets were available for detailed modeling just a decade ago, the Kepler mission has produced suitable observations for hundreds of new targets. This rapid expansion in observational capacity has been accompanied by a shift in analysis and modeling strategies to yield uniform sets of derived stellar properties more quickly and easily. We use previously published asteroseismic and spectroscopic data sets to provide a uniform analysis of 42 solar-type Kepler targets from the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal. We find that fitting the individual frequencies typically doubles the precision of the asteroseismic radius, mass, and age compared to grid-based modeling of the global oscillation properties, and improves the precision of the radius and mass by about a factor of three over empirical scaling relations. We demonstrate the utility of the derived properties with several applications.

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So called scaling relations have the potential to reveal the mass and radius of solar-like oscillating stars, based on oscillation frequencies. In derivation of these relations, it is assumed that the first adiabatic exponent at the surface (Γ 1s ) of such stars is constant. However, by constructing interior models for the mass range 0.8-1.6 M ⊙ , we show that Γ 1s is not constant at stellar surfaces for the effective temperature range with which we deal. Furthermore, the well-known relation between large separation and mean density also depends on Γ 1s . Such knowledge is the basis for our aim of modifying scaling relations. There are significant differences between masses and radii found from modified and conventional scaling relations. However, comparison of predictions of these relations with the non-asteroseismic observations of Procyon A reveals that new scaling relations are effective in determining the mass and radius of stars. In the present study, solar-like oscillation frequencies of 89 target stars (mostly Kepler and CoRoT) were analysed. As well as two new reference frequencies (ν min1 and ν min2 ) found in the spacing of solar-like oscillation frequencies of stellar interior models, we also take into account ν min0 . In addition to the frequency of maximum amplitude, these frequencies have very strong diagnostic potential for determination of fundamental properties. The present study involves the application of derived relations from the models to the solar-like oscillating stars, and computes their effective temperatures using purely asteroseismic methods. There are in general very close agreements between effective temperatures from asteroseismic and non-asteroseismic (spectral and photometric) methods. For the Sun and Procyon A, for example, the agreement is almost total.