Seismic signature of envelope penetrative convection: the CoRoT star HD 52265

Aims. We aim at characterizing the inward transition from convective to radiative energy transport at the base of the convective envelope of the solar-like oscillator HD 52265 recently observed by the CoRoT satellite. Methods. We investigated the origin of one specific feature found in the HD 52265 frequency spectrum. We modelled the star to derive the internal structure and the oscillation frequencies that best match the observations and used a seismic indicator sensitive to the properties of the base of the envelope convection zone. Results. The seismic indicators clearly reveal that to best represent the observed properties of HD 52265, models must include penetrative convection below the outer convective envelope. The penetrative distance is estimated to be similar to 0.95H(P), which corresponds to an extent over a distance representing 6.0 per cents of the total stellar radius, significantly larger than what is found for the Sun. The inner boundary of the extra-mixing region is found at 0.800 +/- 0.004 R where R = 1.3 R-circle dot is the stellar radius. Conclusions. These results contribute to the tachocline characterization in stars other than the Sun.