Beyond Gaia: Asteroseismic Distances of M giants using Ground-Based
  Transient Surveys
  Evolved stars near the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) show solar-like
oscillations with periods spanning hours to months and amplitudes ranging from
$\sim$1 mmag to $\sim$100 mmag. The systematic detection of the resulting
photometric variations with ground-based telescopes would enable the
application of asteroseismology to a much larger and more distant sample of
stars than is currently accessible with space-based telescopes such as
\textit{Kepler} or the ongoing Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
(\textit{TESS}) mission. We present an asteroseismic analysis of 493 M giants
using data from two ground-based surveys: the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last
Alert System (ATLAS) and the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN).
By comparing the extracted frequencies with constraints from \textit{Kepler},
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution
Experiment (APOGEE), and Gaia we demonstrate that ground-based transient
surveys allow accurate distance measurements to oscillating M giants with a
precision of $\sim$15$\%$. Using stellar population synthesis models we predict
that ATLAS and ASAS-SN can provide asteroseismic distances to
$\sim$2$\times$10$^{6}$ galactic M giants out to typical distances of $20-50 \;
\rm{kpc}$, vastly improving the reach of Gaia and providing critical
constraints for Galactic archaeology and galactic dynamics.
