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We study 119 B stars located in the Scorpius–Centaurus Association using data from NASA’s TESS Mission. We see pulsations in 81 stars (68 per cent) across the full range of effective temperatures. In particular, we confirm previous... more
We study 119 B stars located in the Scorpius–Centaurus Association using data from NASA’s TESS Mission. We see pulsations in 81 stars (68 per cent) across the full range of effective temperatures. In particular, we confirm previous reports of low-frequency pulsations in stars whose temperatures fall between the instability strips of SPB stars (slowly pulsating B stars) and δ Scuti stars. By taking the stellar densities into account, we conclude that these cannot be p modes and confirm previous suggestions that these are probably rapidly rotating SPB stars. We also confirm that they follow two period–luminosity relations that are consistent with prograde sectoral g modes that are dipole (l = m = 1) and quadrupole (l = m = 2), respectively. One of the stars (ξ2 Cen) is a hybrid pulsator that shows regular spacings in both g and p modes. We confirm that α Cru has low-amplitude p-mode pulsations, making it one of the brightest β Cephei stars in the sky. We also find several interesting ...
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We report the discovery of the third tidally tilted pulsator, TIC 63328020. Observations with the TESS satellite reveal binary eclipses with an orbital period of 1.1057 d, and δ Scuti-type pulsations with a mode frequency of 21.09533 d−1.... more
We report the discovery of the third tidally tilted pulsator, TIC 63328020. Observations with the TESS satellite reveal binary eclipses with an orbital period of 1.1057 d, and δ Scuti-type pulsations with a mode frequency of 21.09533 d−1. This pulsation exhibits a septuplet of orbital sidelobes as well as a harmonic quintuplet. Using the oblique pulsator model, the primary oscillation is identified as a sectoral dipole mode with l = 1, |m| = 1. We find the pulsating star to have M1 ≃ 2.5 M⊙, R1 ≃ 3 R⊙, and Teff, 1 ≃ 8000 K, while the secondary has M2 ≃ 1.1 M⊙, R2 ≃ 2 R⊙, and Teff, 2 ≃ 5600 K. Both stars appear to be close to filling their respective Roche lobes. The properties of this binary as well as the tidally tilted pulsations differ from the previous two tidally tilted pulsators, HD74423 and CO Cam, in important ways. We also study the prior history of this system with binary evolution models and conclude that extensive mass transfer has occurred from the current secondary to ...
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R-mode oscillations in a rotating star produce characteristic signatures in a Fourier amplitude spectrum at frequencies related with the rotation frequency, which can be, in turn, used to obtain the surface rotation rate of the star. Some... more
R-mode oscillations in a rotating star produce characteristic signatures in a Fourier amplitude spectrum at frequencies related with the rotation frequency, which can be, in turn, used to obtain the surface rotation rate of the star. Some binary stars observed by Kepler indicate the presence of r modes that are probably excited by the tidal effect. In this paper, we have obtained stellar rotation periods in 20 eccentric (heartbeat) binaries with r-mode signatures. The majority of the rotation periods are found to be comparable to pseudo-synchronous periods, in which the angular velocity of rotation is similar to the angular orbital motion of the companion at periastron. In particular, for the heartbeat stars with orbital periods longer than about 8 d, all but one agree with pseudo-synchronous rotation. In contrast to a previous investigation by Zimmerman et al., our result supports the pseudo-synchronisation theory developed by Hut.
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New non-linear hydrodynamic models have been constructed to simulate the radial pulsations observed in the extreme helium star V652 Her. These use a finer zoning to allow higher radial resolution than in previous simulations. Models... more
New non-linear hydrodynamic models have been constructed to simulate the radial pulsations observed in the extreme helium star V652 Her. These use a finer zoning to allow higher radial resolution than in previous simulations. Models incorporate updated OPAL and OP opacity tables and adopt a composition based on the best atmospheric analyses to date. Key pulsation properties including period, velocity amplitude, and shock acceleration are examined as a function of the mean stellar parameters (mass, luminosity, and effective temperature). The new models confirm that, for large amplitude pulsations, a strong shock develops at minimum radius, and is associated with a large phase delay between maximum brightness and minimum radius. Using the observed pulsation period to constrain parameter space in one dimension, other pulsation properties are used to constrain the model space further, and to critically discuss observational measurements. Similar models may be useful for the interpretati...
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A unique type of oscillation modes has recently been identified in γ Doradus variables. These low-frequency modes are called Rossby modes (or r modes) because they consist of Rossby waves in each spherical layer. These waves are... more
A unique type of oscillation modes has recently been identified in γ Doradus variables. These low-frequency modes are called Rossby modes (or r modes) because they consist of Rossby waves in each spherical layer. These waves are characterised by toroidal motions that are restored by the latitudinal variation in the Coriolis force. The horizontal oscillations are weakly coupled in the radial direction. We show that these modes can be used to probe the interior of the stars. The method of the ν − √Δν diagram, which has originally been developed to analyse another type of modes, Kelvin g-modes (or prograde sectoral g-modes), is extended to take Rossby modes into account. We first show based on a theoretical model and then on two stars, KIC 3240967 and KIC 12066947, that the method can be adapted to Rossby modes straightforwardly. In addition, we demonstrate that simultaneous analysis of Kelvin and Rossby modes results in (1) smaller uncertainties in the internal rotation rate and the c...
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The Kepler spacecraft observed the hot subdwarf star PHL 417 during its extended K2 mission, and the high-precision photometric light curve reveals the presence of 17 pulsation modes with periods between 38 and 105 min. From follow-up... more
The Kepler spacecraft observed the hot subdwarf star PHL 417 during its extended K2 mission, and the high-precision photometric light curve reveals the presence of 17 pulsation modes with periods between 38 and 105 min. From follow-up ground-based spectroscopy, we find that the object has a relatively high temperature of 35 600 K, a surface gravity of $\log g / {\rm cm\, s^{-2}}\, =\, 5.75$ and a supersolar helium abundance. Remarkably, it also shows strong zirconium lines corresponding to an apparent +3.9 dex overabundance compared with the Sun. These properties clearly identify this object as the third member of the rare group of pulsating heavy-metal stars, the V366-Aquarii pulsators. These stars are intriguing in that the pulsations are inconsistent with the standard models for pulsations in hot subdwarfs, which predicts that they should display short-period pulsations rather than the observed longer periods. We perform a stability analysis of the pulsation modes based on data f...
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We investigated nonradial pulsations in the presence of a dipole magnetic field in a non-rotating 1.7 M⊙ ZAMS star. Formally, like in the case of pulsation-rotation coupling (Lee & Saio, 1986), the angular dependence of the pulsations is... more
We investigated nonradial pulsations in the presence of a dipole magnetic field in a non-rotating 1.7 M⊙ ZAMS star. Formally, like in the case of pulsation-rotation coupling (Lee & Saio, 1986), the angular dependence of the pulsations is expanded into a series of spherical harmonics of different latitudinal degrees l. To start with, we considered only axisymmetric (m = 0) modes under the adiabatic and the Cowling approximations. In contrast to previous studies of pulsation-magnetic field interaction (Dziembowski & Goode, 1996; Bigot et al., 2000; Cunha & Gough, 2000), we retained the latitudinal derivatives of the perturbed quantities.
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We explore the radial (p-mode) stability of stars across a wide range of mass (0.2 < M < 50 M⊙), composition (0 < X < 0.7, Z = 0.001, 0.02), effective temperature, and luminosity. We identify the instability boundaries... more
We explore the radial (p-mode) stability of stars across a wide range of mass (0.2 < M < 50 M⊙), composition (0 < X < 0.7, Z = 0.001, 0.02), effective temperature, and luminosity. We identify the instability boundaries associated with low- to high-order radial oscillations (0 ⩽ n ⩽ 13). The instability boundaries are a strong function of both composition and radial order (n). The classical blue edge shifts to higher effective temperature and luminosity with decreasing hydrogen abundance. High-order modes are more easily excited and small islands of high radial-order instability develop, some of which correspond with real stars. Driving in all cases is by the classical κ-mechanism and, at high luminosity-to-mass ratio, strange-mode instability. We identify regions of parameter space where new classes of pulsating variable have recently or may, in future, be discovered. The majority of these are associated with reduced hydrogen abundance in the envelope.
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ABSTRACT
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It has now been three years since the first Canadian space telescope MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars) continues to make its unique mark in stellar asteroseismology, exoplanetology and other studies of high-precision... more
It has now been three years since the first Canadian space telescope MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars) continues to make its unique mark in stellar asteroseismology, exoplanetology and other studies of high-precision photometric variability. Among massive stars, three OB, three later-type B stars and two Wolf-Rayet stars have been studied so far with unprecedented precision and time coverage in
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We discuss low-frequency g modes excited by resonant couplings with weakly unstable oscillatory convective modes in the rotating convective core in early-type main-sequence stars. Our non-adiabatic pulsation analyses including the effect... more
We discuss low-frequency g modes excited by resonant couplings with weakly unstable oscillatory convective modes in the rotating convective core in early-type main-sequence stars. Our non-adiabatic pulsation analyses including the effect of Coriolis force for $2\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$ main-sequence models show that if the convective core rotates slightly faster than the surrounding radiative layers, g modes in the radiative envelope are excited by a resonance coupling. The frequency of the excited g mode in the inertial frame is close to |mΩc| with m and Ωc being the azimuthal order of the g mode and the rotation frequency of the convective core, respectively. These g-mode frequencies are consistent with those of photometric rotational modulations and harmonics observed in many early-type main-sequence stars. In other words, these g modes provide a non-magnetic explanation for the rotational light modulations detected in many early-type main-sequence stars.
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We have examined whether the kappa-mechanism at the ”Z” opacity bump can excite overstable nonradial pulsation (NRP) modes such as those responsible for the line-profile variations (lpv) observed for ϵ Persei (Gies et al. 1999).From the... more
We have examined whether the kappa-mechanism at the ”Z” opacity bump can excite overstable nonradial pulsation (NRP) modes such as those responsible for the line-profile variations (lpv) observed for ϵ Persei (Gies et al. 1999).From the lpv modeling with realistic stellar parameters and the state-of-the-art codes, we confirmed that the observed lpv can generally be explained by the modes with l values suggested by Gies et al. (1999). We have also found that some tesseral modes, which have smaller m than those of sectoral modes, can reproduce the observed lpv well for the periods of 3.51hr/3.84 hr and 4.06hr/4.54 hr. Our linear non-adiabatic nonradial pulsation analysis applied to massive (13M⊙––14M⊙) stars shows that the periods of higher |m| values in the co-rotating frame are too long to be excited by the Z-bump kappa-mechanism while the smaller |m| values give marginal consistency.
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We calculate the effects of a 3.2-kG dipolar magnetic field on the eigenfunctions of high-order p-mode pulsations and discuss the consequences for pulsation amplitude modulation with rotation phase and for line profile variations.
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The Be phenomenon, that is the ejection of matter from Be stars into a circumstellar disk, has been a long lasting mystery. In the last few years, the CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) satellite brought clear evidence... more
The Be phenomenon, that is the ejection of matter from Be stars into a circumstellar disk, has been a long lasting mystery. In the last few years, the CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) satellite brought clear evidence that Be outbursts are directly correlated with pulsations. We found that it may be the transport of angular momentum by waves or pulsation modes that brings the already rapid stellar rotation to its critical value at the surface, and allows the star to eject material. The recent discovery of stochastically excited gravito-inertial modes by CoRoT in a hot Be star strengthens this scenario. We present the CoRoT observations and modeling of several Be stars and describe the new picture of the Be phenomenon which arose from these results.
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The session was brief and quite informal as there were only six participants. The agenda included my report on organizational activities of the Commission during the 2003-2006 term and Virginia Trimble's presentation Presence of... more
The session was brief and quite informal as there were only six participants. The agenda included my report on organizational activities of the Commission during the 2003-2006 term and Virginia Trimble's presentation Presence of binary stars in the current astronomical literature. I summarize below the most important part of my report.