patrick gaulme edited Introduction.tex  almost 9 years ago

Commit id: 1fdd563f1d528ed249a0d421b14a428d21295d31

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\emph{Kepler}'s primary science goal is to find Earth-like exoplanets orbiting sun-like stars \citep{bor10}. However, in addition to successes in planet-hunting and suitability for red giant asteroseismology, \emph{Kepler} is also incredibly useful for studies of eclipsing binary stars. In fact, \emph{Kepler} has discovered numerous long-period eclipsing systems from consistent target monitoring over several years \citep{prs11,sla11}. Eclipsing binaries are important tools for understanding fundamental stellar properties, and in turn for testing stellar evolutionary models or determining distances. When radial velocity curves exist for both stars in an eclipsing binary, along with a well-sampled light curve, a full orbital solution can be found. Accurate masses and radii are straightforward to derive from such a solution; indeed, Kepler's third law applied in this way is the \emph{only} direct method for measuring stellar masses.  Taken together, red giants in eclipsing binaries (hereafter RG/EBs) that exhibit solar-like oscillations are ideal testbeds for asteroseismology. There are presently 15 17  known RG/EBs that show solar-like oscillations \citep{hek10,gau13,gau14} \citep{hek10,gau13,gau14,beck14}  with orbital periods ranging from 15 to 1058 days, all found in the \emph{Kepler} field of view. % Overview of paper  In this paper, we present physical parameters for the unique RG/EB KIC 9246715, which contains two nearly-identical red giants in a 171-day eccentric orbit. Only one set of solar-like oscillations is present. We find good agreement between photodynamic models and asteroseismology, but are unable to definitively say which star is oscillating. %We explore how star spots and tidal forces may influence the oscillations, verify that the two stars are consistent with a co-evolutionary history, and discuss how this system can inform future detailed studies of RG/EBs.