Asteroseismology of the red giant companions to Gaia BH2 and BH3

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Hey, Daniel, Li, Yaguang, Ong, Joel
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Hey, Daniel
Li, Yaguang
Ong, Joel
author_facet Hey, Daniel
Li, Yaguang
Ong, Joel
contents The stellar companions in the binary black hole systems Gaia BH2 and BH3, both of which are $α$-enhanced red giant branch stars, are expected to show normal modes with the characteristic signature of convectively-driven solar-like oscillations. We investigate this using photometry from the TESS mission and find such a signal for Gaia BH2. For Gaia BH2, we measure a power excess frequency of $ν_{\rm max}=60.15\pm0.57$ $μ$Hz and a large separation of $Δν=5.99\pm0.03$ $μ$Hz, yielding a mass of $1.19^{+0.08}_{-0.08}$ M$_\odot$, which is in agreement with spectroscopically derived parameters. Seismic modeling favors an age for the red giant of $5.03^{+2.58}_{-3.05}$ Gyr, strongly suggesting that it is a young, $α$-enriched giant star, which are thought to arise from a binary accretion or merger scenario. Ground-based photometry of Gaia BH2 spanning 8 years indicates a photometric period of $398\pm5$ d, which we tentatively attribute to rotation. If this rotation is physical, it can not be explained solely by evolutionary spin-down or magnetic braking, and implies that the red giant underwent some tidal forcing mechanism. Suggestively, this period is close to the pseudo-synchronous spin period of P$_\text{spin}=428\pm1$ days derived from the binary orbit. For Gaia BH3, we are unable to identify an asteroseismic signal in the TESS data despite predicting that the amplitude of the signal should lie well above the measured noise level. We discuss a number of scenarios for why this signal may not be visible.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_09690
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Asteroseismology of the red giant companions to Gaia BH2 and BH3
Hey, Daniel
Li, Yaguang
Ong, Joel
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
The stellar companions in the binary black hole systems Gaia BH2 and BH3, both of which are $α$-enhanced red giant branch stars, are expected to show normal modes with the characteristic signature of convectively-driven solar-like oscillations. We investigate this using photometry from the TESS mission and find such a signal for Gaia BH2. For Gaia BH2, we measure a power excess frequency of $ν_{\rm max}=60.15\pm0.57$ $μ$Hz and a large separation of $Δν=5.99\pm0.03$ $μ$Hz, yielding a mass of $1.19^{+0.08}_{-0.08}$ M$_\odot$, which is in agreement with spectroscopically derived parameters. Seismic modeling favors an age for the red giant of $5.03^{+2.58}_{-3.05}$ Gyr, strongly suggesting that it is a young, $α$-enriched giant star, which are thought to arise from a binary accretion or merger scenario. Ground-based photometry of Gaia BH2 spanning 8 years indicates a photometric period of $398\pm5$ d, which we tentatively attribute to rotation. If this rotation is physical, it can not be explained solely by evolutionary spin-down or magnetic braking, and implies that the red giant underwent some tidal forcing mechanism. Suggestively, this period is close to the pseudo-synchronous spin period of P$_\text{spin}=428\pm1$ days derived from the binary orbit. For Gaia BH3, we are unable to identify an asteroseismic signal in the TESS data despite predicting that the amplitude of the signal should lie well above the measured noise level. We discuss a number of scenarios for why this signal may not be visible.
title Asteroseismology of the red giant companions to Gaia BH2 and BH3
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.09690