Solar-like oscillations in red giants observed with Kepler: Comparison of global oscillation parameters from different methods

Context. The large number of stars for which uninterrupted high-precision photometric timeseries data are being collected with Kepler and CoRoT initiated the development of automated methods to analyse the stochastically excited oscillations in main-sequence, subgiant and red-giant stars. Aims. We investigate the differences in results for global oscillation parameters of G and K red-giant stars due to different methods and definitions. We also investigate uncertainties originating from the stochastic nature of the oscillations. Methods. For this investigation we use Kepler data obtained during the first four months of operation. These data have been analysed by different groups using already published methods and the results are compared. We also performed simulations to investigate the uncertainty on the resulting parameters due to different realizations of the stochastic signal. Results. We obtain results for the frequency of maximum oscillation power (νmax) and the mean large separation (Δν) from different methods for over one thousand red-giant stars. The results for these parameters agree within a few percent and seem therefore robust to the different analysis methods and definitions used here. The uncertainties for νmax and Δν due to differences in realization noise are not negligible and should be taken into account when using these results for stellar modelling. © 2010 ESO.