Searching for solar-like oscillations in pre-main sequence stars using APOLLO

Abstract

Context. In recent years, our understanding of solar-like oscillations from main sequence to red giant stars has improved dramatically thanks to pristine data collected from space telescopes. One of the remaining open questions focuses on the observational identification of solar-like oscillations in pre-main sequence stars. Aims. We aim to develop an improved method to search for solar-like oscillations in pre-main sequence stars and apply it to data collected by the Kepler K2 mission. Methods. Our software APOLLO includes a novel way to detect low signal-to-noise ratio solar-like oscillations in the presence of a high background level. Results. By calibrating our method using known solar-like oscillators from the main Kepler mission, we apply it to T Tauri stars observed by Kepler K2 and identify several candidate pre-main sequence solar-like oscillators. Conclusions. We find that our method is robust even when applied to time-series of observational lengths as short as those obtained with the TESS satellite in one sector. We identify EPIC 205375290 as a possible candidate for solar-like oscillations in a pre-main sequence star with νmax ≃ 242 μHz. We also derive its fundamental parameters to be Teff = 3670 ± 180 K, log g = 3.85 ± 0.3, v sin i = 8 ± 1 km s−1, and about solar metallicity from a high-resolution spectrum obtained from the Keck archive.