Dr Sergei Vorontsov Project Abstracts
BSc Project Abstracts and MSci Research/Investigative Project Abstracts
Asteroseismology with Kepler mission
NASA space mission Kepler, targeted primarily at habitable-planet finding, has delivered unprecedented amount of high-quality photometric measurements of stellar oscillations. The project is expected to give a comprehensive review of the results obtained for different stars, a review which would be a current review at the date of submitting the project. Basic understanding of the physical nature of different types of stellar pulsations (p-, f- g- and mixed modes), and of their diagnostic capability (frequency- and period spacings, frequency splittings) is required, which is expected to be gained as part of the work on the project principally by reading the relevant literature, suggested by the supervisor.
MSci Review Project Abstracts
Interference of the acoustic waves, excited by turbulent convection in lower solar atmosphere, brings standing waves, or global modes of solar acoustic oscillations, known as solar p modes, with measurable oscillation frequencies.
Millions of solar p-mode frequencies are now available from dedicated measurements, providing a unique source of accurate diagnostic information about the structure and dynamics of the solar interior. In this review project, you are expected to address the basic diagnostic properties of solar p-mode frequencies, observational techniques which allow their measurements, current achievements in the field of solar seismology, and how similar methods are applied in the seismology of distant stars.