Invited_talk abstract details

Red-giant asteroseismology has benefited largely from the development of high-resolution spectrographs with long-term stability, e.g. HARPS spectrograph, and dedicated space missions, such as MOST, CoRoT and Kepler. Observations with these state-of-the-art instruments increased the number of red giants in which solar-like oscillations are observed, and the quality of these observations drastically and will continue to do so.

Initially the interpretation of the observed solar-like oscillations in red giants led to discussions about the nature and lifetimes of the observed modes, i.e., whether non-radial modes would be observable, and whether the oscillations would have a mode lifetime of the order of a few days or tens of days. Recent results from CoRoT observations have shown that non-radial modes are observable and that the mode lifetime can be of the order of tens of days.

The rapid development of red-giant asteroseismology over the last decade has provided some answers, but many open questions remain. These will be addressed with ongoing seismic observations and development of red-giant models.