The Aarhus red giants challenge: I. Stellar structures in the red giant branch phase

[Context] With the advent of space-based asteroseismology, determining accurate properties of red-giant stars using their observed oscillations has become the focus of many investigations due to their implications in a variety of fields in astrophysics. Stellar models are fundamental in predicting quantities such as stellar age, and their reliability critically depends on the numerical implementation of the physics at play in this evolutionary phase.
[Aims] We introduce the Aarhus red giants challenge, a series of detailed comparisons between widely used stellar evolution and oscillation codes that aim to establish the minimum level of uncertainties in properties of red giants arising solely from numerical implementations. We present the first set of results focusing on stellar evolution tracks and structures in the red-giant-branch (RGB) phase.
[Methods] Using nine state-of-the-art stellar evolution codes, we defined a set of input physics and physical constants for our calculations and calibrated the convective efficiency to a specific point on the main sequence. We produced evolutionary tracks and stellar structure models at a fixed radius along the red-giant branch for masses of 1.0 M⊙, 1.5 M⊙, 2.0 M⊙, and 2.5 M⊙, and compared the predicted stellar properties.
[Results] Once models have been calibrated on the main sequence, we find a residual spread in the predicted effective temperatures across all codes of ∼20 K at solar radius and ∼30–40 K in the RGB regardless of the considered stellar mass. The predicted ages show variations of 2–5% (increasing with stellar mass), which we attribute to differences in the numerical implementation of energy generation. The luminosity of the RGB-bump shows a spread of about 10% for the considered codes, which translates into magnitude differences of ∼0.1 mag in the optical V-band. We also compare the predicted [C/N] abundance ratio and find a spread of 0.1 dex or more for all considered masses.
[Conclusions] Our comparisons show that differences at the level of a few percent still remain in evolutionary calculations of red giants branch stars despite the use of the same input physics. These are mostly due to differences in the energy generation routines and interpolation across opacities, and they call for further investigation on these matters in the context of using properties of red giants as benchmarks for astrophysical studies.
Funding for the Stellar Astrophysics Centre is provided by The Danish National Research Foundation (Grant agreement No. DNRF106). The research was supported by the ASTERISK project (ASTERoseismic Investigations with SONG and Kepler) funded by the European Research Council (Grant agreement No. 267864). VSA acknowledges support from VILLUM FONDEN (research grant 10118) and the Independent Research Fund Denmark (Research grant 7027-00096B). AS is partially supported by grant ESP2017-82674-R (MICINN) and 2017-SGR-1131 (Generalitat Catalunya). DS acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council. Part of this research was supported by the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement no 338251 (StellarAges). RHDT acknowledges support from National Science Foundation grants ACI-1663696 and AST-1716436. This work was supported by FCT/MCTES through national funds and by FEDER – Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019; PTDC/FIS-AST/30389/2017 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030389. DB is supported in the form of work contract funded by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). AM acknowledges the support of the Govt. Of India, Department of Atomic Energy, under Project No. 12-R&D-TFR-6.04-0600. We would like to thank Bill Paxton for assistance with the MESA solar calibration and for accommodating requested changes to the code along the way.