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Register a new userThe Evolving Radio Photospheres of Long-Period Variable Stars
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Observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array at 46 GHz (7 mm) have been used to measure the size and shape of the radio photospheres of four long-period variable stars: R Leonis (R Leo), IRC+10216 (CW Leo), chi Cygni (chi Cyg), and W Hydrae (W Hya). The shapes of the stars range from nearly round to ellipticities of ~0.15. Comparisons with observations taken several years earlier show that the photospheric parameters (mean diameter, shape, and/or flux density) of each of the stars have changed over time. Evidence for brightness asymmetries and non-uniformities across the radio surfaces are also seen in the visibility domain and in images obtained using a sparse modeling image reconstruction technique. These trends may be explained as manifestations of large-scale irregular convective flows on the stellar surface, although effects from non-radial pulsations cannot be excluded. Our data also allow a new evaluation of the proper motion of IRC+10216. Our measurement is in agreement with previous values obtained from radio wavelength measurements, and we find no evidence of statistically significant astrometric perturbations from a binary companion.
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We report spectroscopy and photometry of the cataclysmic variable stars ASASSN-14ho and V1062 Cyg. Both are dwarf novae with spectra dominated by their secondary stars, which we classify as approxomately K4 and M0.5, respectively. Their orbital periods, determined mostly from the secondary stars radial velociites, proved to be nearly identical, respectively 350.14 +- 0.15 and 348.25 +- 0.60 min. The H-alpha emission line in V1062 Cyg displays a relatively sharp emission component that tracks the secondarys motion, which may arise on the irradiated face of the secondary; tihs is not often seen and may indicate an unusually strong flux of ionizing radiation. Both systems exhibit double-peaked orbital modulation consistent with ellipsoidal variation from the changing aspect of the secondary. We model these variations to constrain the orbital inclination i, and estimate approximate component masses based oni and the secondary velocity amplitude K2.
Galactic starburst clusters play a twin role in astrophysics, serving as laboratories for the study of stellar physics and also delineating the structure and recent star formation history of the Milky Way. In order to exploit these opportunities we have undertaken a multi-epoch spectroscopic survey of the red supergiant dominated young massive clusters thought to be present at both near and far ends of the Galactic Bar. Significant spectroscopic variability suggestive of radial pulsations was found for the yellow supergiant VdBH 222 #505. Follow-up photometric investigations revealed modulation with a period of ~23.325d; both timescale and pulsational profile are consistent with a Cepheid classification. As a consequence #505 may be recognised as one of the longest period Galactic cluster Cepheids identified to date and hence of considerable use in constraining the bright end of the period/luminosity relation at solar metallicities. In conjunction with extant photometry we infer a distance of ~6kpc for VdBH222 and an age of ~20Myr. This results in a moderate reduction in both integrated cluster mass (~2x10^4Msun) and the initial stellar masses of the evolved cluster members (~10Msun). As such, VdBH222 becomes an excellent test-bed for studying the properties of some of the lowest mass stars observed to undergo type-II supernovae. Moreover, the distance is in tension with a location of VdBH 222 at the far end of the Galactic Bar. Instead a birthsite in the near 3kpc arm is suggested; providing compelling evidence of extensive recent star formation in a region of the inner Milky Way which has hitherto been thought to be devoid of such activity.
Using photometric ULTRACAM observations of three new short period cataclysmic variables, we model the primary eclipse lightcurves to extract the orbital separation, masses, and radii of their component stars. We find donor masses of 0.060 +/- 0.008 solar masses, 0.042 +/- 0.001 solar masses, and 0.042 +/- 0.004 solar masses, two being very low-mass sub-stellar donors, and one within 2 sigma of the hydrogen burning limit. All three of the new systems lie close to the modified, optimal model evolutionary sequence of Knigge et al. (2011). We briefly re-evaluate the long-standing discrepancy between observed donor mass and radius data, and theoretical CV evolutionary tracks. By looking at the difference in the observed period at each mass and the period predicted by the Knigge et al. (2011) evolutionary sequence, we qualitatively examine the form of excess angular momentum loss that is missing from the models below the period gap. We show indications that the excess angular momentum loss missing from CV models grows in importance relative to gravitational losses as the period decreases. Detailed CV evolutionary models are necessary to draw more quantitative conclusions in the future.
Gaia DR2 provides a unique all-sky catalogue of 550737 variable stars, of which 151761 are long-period variable (LPV) candidates with G variability amplitudes larger than 0.2 mag (5-95% quantile range). About one-fifth of the LPV candidates are Mira candidates, the majority of the rest are semi-regular variable candidates. For each source, G, BP , and RP photometric time-series are published, together with some LPV-specific attributes for the subset of 89617 candidates with periods in G longer than 60 days. We describe this first Gaia catalogue of LPV candidates, and present various validation checks. Various samples of LPVs were used to validate the catalogue: a sample of well-studied very bright LPVs with light curves from the AAVSO that are partly contemporaneous with Gaia light curves, a sample of Gaia LPV candidates with good parallaxes, the ASAS_SN catalogue of LPVs, and the OGLE catalogues of LPVs towards the Magellanic Clouds and the Galactic bulge. The analyses of these samples show a good agreement between Gaia DR2 and literature periods. The same is globally true for bolometric corrections of M-type stars. The main contaminant of our DR2 catalogue comes from young stellar objects (YSOs) in the solar vicinity (within ~1 kpc), although their number in the whole catalogue is only at the percent level. A cautionary note is provided about parallax-dependent LPV attributes published in the catalogue. This first Gaia catalogue of LPVs approximately doubles the number of known LPVs with amplitudes larger than 0.2 mag, despite the conservative candidate selection criteria that prioritise low contamination over high completeness, and despite the limited DR2 time coverage compared to the long periods characteristic of LPVs. It also contains a small set of YSO candidates, which offers the serendipitous opportunity to study these objects at an early stage of the Gaia data releases.
The exact period determination of a multi-periodic variable star based on its luminosity time series data is believed a task requiring skill and experience. Thus the majority of available time series analysis techniques require human intervention to some extent. The present work is dedicated to establish an automated method of period (or frequency) determination from the time series database of variable stars. Relying on the SigSpec method (Reegen 2007), the technique established here employs a statistically unbiased treatment of frequency-domain noise and avoids spurious (i. e. noise induced) and alias peaks to the highest possible extent. Several add-ons were incorporated to tailor SigSpec to our requirements. We present tests on 386 stars taken from ASAS2 project database. From the output file produced by SigSpec, the frequency with maximum spectral significance is chosen as the genuine frequency. Out of 386 variable stars available in the ASAS2 database, our results contain 243 periods recovered exactly and also 88 half periods, 42 different periods etc. SigSpec has the potential to be effectively used for fully automated period detection from variable stars time series database. The exact detection of periods helps us to identify the type of variability and classify the variable stars, which provides a crucial information on the physical processes effective in stellar atmospheres.
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