Searching for solar-like oscillations in the δ Scuti star ρ Puppis

Despite the shallow convective envelopes of delta Scuti pulsators, solar-like oscillations are theoretically predicted to be excited in those stars as well. To search for such stochastic oscillations, we organized a spectroscopic multisite campaign for the bright, metal-rich delta Sct star rho Puppis. We obtained a total of 2763 high-resolution spectra using four telescopes. We discuss the reduction and analysis with the iodine cell technique, developed for searching low-amplitude radial velocity variations, in the presence of high-amplitude variability. Furthermore, we have determined the angular diameter of rho Puppis to be 1.68 +/- 0.03 mas, translating into a radius of 3.52 +/- 0.07 R-circle dot. Using this value, the frequency of maximum power of possible solar-like oscillations is expected at similar to 43 +/- 2 c d(-1) (498 +/- 23 mu Hz). The dominant delta Scuti-type pulsation mode of rho Puppis is known to be the radial fundamental mode which allows us to determine the mean density of the star, and therefore an expected large frequency separation of 2.73 c d(-1) (31.6 mu Hz). We conclude that (1) the radial velocity amplitudes of the delta Scuti pulsations are different for different spectral lines; (2) we can exclude solar-like oscillations to be present in rho Puppis with an amplitude per radial mode larger than 0.5 m s(-1).