Asteroseismology and Helioseismology at Birmingham and Queen Mary

这是研究太阳、恒星及其系外行星的黄金时代，特别是由于新的卫星观测具有前所未有的质量和范围。这些数据使得利用星震学研究大量恒星成为可能，星震学是通过观察和分析恒星的内在振荡来研究恒星的。在我们对恒星（包括太阳）的理解中，重大的不确定性对天文学的更广泛领域有直接的影响，例如，在星系外尺度上的距离校准，确定最古老恒星群的年龄（这对宇宙学有严格的限制），以及追踪星系的化学演化。最先进的恒星研究对于完整理解系外行星系统的形成和演化也至关重要，从星震学对恒星进行的推断可以直接限制系外行星的性质（例如，大小、宜居带的位置、年龄等）。恒星是宇宙可见的基石，离我们最近的恒星太阳对地球上的生命至关重要。负责太阳活动及其变化的内部机制位于从太阳延伸到地球的链条的一端。人们对太阳的可变性仍然知之甚少。对于恒星结构和恒星演化理论的不同领域，太阳也扮演着基本的校准和参考的角色。因此，阐明其结构和动力学的细节是关键，不仅在了解太阳的背景下，而且在了解其他恒星的背景下。该研究项目是由伯明翰大学（UoB）和伦敦大学玛丽女王学院（QMUL）的一流团队组成的一个联盟。它汇集了来自大华大学和QMUL的世界领先的星震学和日震学研究项目的专业知识，该项目跨越了数据收集、数据分析和理论建模的学科，应用于太阳、太阳型恒星和红巨星，包括新发现的系外行星系统的特性和动力学特征。该项目将利用来自美国宇航局开普勒任务和法国领导的CoRoT卫星的最新数据。在对太阳的研究中，大华银行将继续运行伯明翰太阳振荡网络（BiSON）。我们将使用这些和其他世界领先的日震数据集来关注最近观测到的活跃太阳的行为变化，这些变化将使太阳回到近100年来未见的较低活动水平。

It is a golden era for studies of the Sun, stars, and theirexoplanets, thanks in particular to new satellite observations ofunprecedented quality and scope. These data are making it possible toinvestigate large numbers of stars using asteroseismology, the studyof stars by observation and analysis of their intrinsic oscillations.Significant uncertainties in our understanding of stars (including theSun) have a direct impact on wider areas of astronomy, e.g.,calibration of distances on extra-galactic scales, fixing the ages ofthe oldest stellar populations (which place tight constraints oncosmologies), and tracing the chemical evolution ofgalaxies. State-of-the-art studies of stars are also crucial to acomplete understanding of the formation and evolution of exoplanetarysystems, and inferences made on stars from asteroseismology allowdirect constraints to be placed on exoplanet properties (e.g., sizes,locations in habitable zones, ages etc.). Stars are the visiblebuilding-blocks of the Universe and the nearest star to us, the Sun,is vital to life on Earth. The internal mechanisms responsible forsolar activity, and its variability, lie at one end of the chainstretching from the Sun to the Earth. Variability of the Sun remainspoorly understood. The Sun also plays the role of a fundamentalcalibrator, and reference, for different areas of stellar structureand stellar evolution theory. Hence, elucidating the details of itsstructure and dynamics is key, not only in the context ofunderstanding the Sun, but also other stars.This research programme is a consortium comprised of the stellargroups at the University of Birmingham (UoB) and Queen Mary,University of London (QMUL). It brings together world-leadingexpertise from UoB and QMUL in a programme of asteroseismology andhelioseismology research that spans the disciplines of datacollection, data analysis and theoretical modelling as applied to theSun and solar-type and red-giant stars, including the characterisationof the properties and dynamics of newly discovered exoplanet systemsThe programme will make use of state-of-the-art data from the NASAKepler Mission and the French-led CoRoT satellite. In studies of theSun, UoB will continue to run the Birmingham Solar-OscillationsNetwork (BiSON). We shall use these and other world-leadinghelioseismic datasets to focus on the recent observed changes inbehaviour of the active Sun, which are taking the Sun back to lowerlevels of activity not seen for almost 100 years.