Precise Asteroseismic Ages for the Helmi Streams

Abstract The Helmi streams are remnants of a dwarf galaxy that was accreted by the Milky Way and whose stars now form a distinct kinematic and chemical substructure in the Galactic halo. Precisely age-dating these typically faint stars of extragalactic origin has been notoriously difficult due to the limitations of using only spectroscopic data, interferometry, or coarse asteroseismic measurements. Using observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, we report detailed asteroseismic modeling results for two of the brightest red giants within the Helmi streams, HD 175305 and HD 128279. By modeling the individual oscillation mode frequencies and the spectroscopic properties of both stars, we determine their fundamental properties including mass, radius, and age ( τ ). We report τ = 11.16 ± 0.91 Gyr for HD 175305 and τ = 12.52 ± 1.05 Gyr for HD 128279, consistent with previously inferred star formation histories for the Helmi streams and the differential chemical abundances between the two stars. With precise ages for individual stream members, our results reinforce the hypothesis that the Helmi streams’ progenitor must have existed at least 12 Gyr ago. Our results also highlight that the ages of metal-poor, α -enhanced red giants can be severely underestimated when inferred using global asteroseismic parameters instead of individual mode frequencies.