Detection of Solar-like Oscillations and Granulation at Infrared Wavelengths using JWST
Abstract
Stellar oscillations and granulation are key probes of stellar convection, one of the most poorly understood processes in stars. Stellar models predict strong wavelength dependence of the amplitudes of oscillations and granulation, but hitherto both processes have only been measured at optical wavelengths. Here we present the first detection of oscillations and granulation at infrared wavelengths, using JWST time-series observations of the F6V main-sequence star WASP-121 that were obtained to study the atmosphere of an exoplanet. We find that the amplitudes of oscillations and granulation decrease with wavelength, consistent with expectations, but with a functional form that deviates from simple blackbody scaling. The detection opens the door to detailed tests of 3D convection models, facilitates the combined modeling of stellar and exoplanet signals in JWST passbands for exoplanet observations, and supports the predicted asteroseismic yields from the infrared time-domain data that will soon be obtained by the Roman Space Telescope.
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BibTeX
@misc{weeks2026detection,
title = {{Detection of Solar-like Oscillations and Granulation at Infrared Wavelengths using JWST}},
author = {Angharad Weeks and Daniel Huber and Timothy R. Bedding and Jared Splinter and Hans Kjeldsen and Yaguang Li and Courtney Crawford and Daniel Hey and David Lafreniere and Louis-Phillipe Coulombe and Nicolas Cowan},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.30594},
eprint = {2610.30594},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30594},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Detection of Solar-like Oscillations and Granulation at Infrared Wavelengths using JWST
AU - Angharad Weeks
AU - Daniel Huber
AU - Timothy R. Bedding
AU - Jared Splinter
AU - Hans Kjeldsen
AU - Yaguang Li
AU - Courtney Crawford
AU - Daniel Hey
AU - David Lafreniere
AU - Louis-Phillipe Coulombe
AU - Nicolas Cowan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.30594
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30594
AB - Stellar oscillations and granulation are key probes of stellar convection, one of the most poorly understood processes in stars. Stellar models predict strong wavelength dependence of the amplitudes of oscillations and granulation, but hitherto both processes have only been measured at optical wavelengths. Here we present the first detection of oscillations and granulation at infrared wavelengths, using JWST time-series observations of the F6V main-sequence star WASP-121 that were obtained to study the atmosphere of an exoplanet. We find that the amplitudes of oscillations and granulation decrease with wavelength, consistent with expectations, but with a functional form that deviates from simple blackbody scaling. The detection opens the door to detailed tests of 3D convection models, facilitates the combined modeling of stellar and exoplanet signals in JWST passbands for exoplanet observations, and supports the predicted asteroseismic yields from the infrared time-domain data that will soon be obtained by the Roman Space Telescope.
ER -