PBjam: A Python package for automating asteroseismology of solar-like oscillators

M. B. Nielsen, G. R. Davies, W. H. Ball, A. J. Lyttle, T. Li, O. J. Hall, W. J. Chaplin, P. Gaulme, L. Carboneau, J. M. J. Ong, R. A. García, B. Mosser, I. W. Roxburgh, E. Corsaro, O. Benomar, A. Moya, M. N. Lund

Published 2020-12-01Version 1

Asteroseismology is an exceptional tool for studying stars by using the properties of observed modes of oscillation. So far the process of performing an asteroseismic analysis of a star has remained somewhat esoteric and inaccessible to non-experts. In this software paper we describe PBjam, an open-source Python package for analyzing the frequency spectra of solar-like oscillators in a simple but principled and automated way. The aim of PBjam is to provide a set of easy-to-use tools to extract information about the radial and quadrupole oscillations in stars that oscillate like the Sun, which may then be used to infer bulk properties such as stellar mass, radius and age or even structure. Asteroseismology and its data analysis methods are becoming increasingly important as space-based photometric observatories are producing a wealth of new data, allowing asteroseismology to be applied in a wide range of contexts such as exoplanet, stellar structure and evolution, and Galactic population studies.