A seismic scaling relation for stellar age II: the red giant branch

Abstract

ABSTRACT Owing to their simplicity and ease of application, seismic scaling relations are widely used to determine the properties of stars exhibiting solar-like oscillations, such as solar twins and red giants. So far, no seismic scaling relations for determining the ages of red giant stars have been developed. Such relations would be desirable for Galactic Archaeology, which uses stellar ages to map the history of the Milky Way. The ages of red giants must instead be estimated with reference to grids of theoretical stellar models, which can be computationally intensive. Here, I present an exhaustive search for scaling age relations involving different combinations of observable quantities. The candidate scaling relations are calibrated and tested using more than 1000 red giant stars whose ages were obtained via grid-based modelling. I report multiple high-quality scaling relations for red giant branch stars, the best of which are shown to be approximately as accurate as grid-based modelling with typical uncertainties of 15 per cent. Additionally, I present new scaling mass and radius relations for red giants as well.