No Arabic abstract
Dwarf carbon (dC) stars, main sequence stars showing carbon molecular bands, were initially thought to be an oxymoron since only AGB stars dredge carbon into their atmospheres. Mass transfer from a former AGB companion that has since faded to a white dwarf seems the most likely explanation. Indeed, a few types of giants known to show anomalous abundances --- notably, the CH, Ba and CEMP-s stars --- are known to have a high binary frequency. The dC stars may be the enhanced-abundance progenitors of most, if not all, of these systems, but this requires demonstrating a high binary frequency for dCs. Here, for a sample of 240 dC stars targeted for repeat spectroscopy by the SDSS-IVs Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey, we analyze radial velocity variability to constrain the binary frequency and orbital properties. A handful of dC systems show large velocity variability ($>$100 km s$^{-1}$). We compare the dCs to a control sample with a similar distribution of magnitude, color, proper motion, and parallax. Using MCMC methods, we use the measured $Delta$RV distribution to estimate the binary fraction and the separation distribution assuming both a unimodal and bimodal distribution. We find the dC stars have an enhanced binary fraction of 95%, consistent with them being products of mass transfer. These models result in mean separations of less than 1 AU corresponding to periods on the order of 1 year. Our results support the conclusion that dC stars form from close binary systems via mass transfer.
We devise a new method for the detection of double-lined binary stars in a sample of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) survey spectra. The method is both tested against extensive simulations based on synthetic spectra, and compared to direct visual inspection of all RAVE spectra. It is based on the properties and shape of the cross-correlation function, and is able to recover ~80% of all binaries with an orbital period of order 1 day. Systems with periods up to 1 year are still within the detection reach. We have applied the method to 25,850 spectra of the RAVE second data release and found 123 double-lined binary candidates, only eight of which are already marked as binaries in the SIMBAD database. Among the candidates, there are seven that show spectral features consistent with the RS CVn type (solar type with active chromosphere) and seven that might be of W UMa type (over-contact binaries). One star, HD 101167, seems to be a triple system composed of three nearly identical G-type dwarfs. The tested classification method could also be applicable to the data of the upcoming Gaia mission.
Stellar activity due to different processes (magnetic activity, photospheric flows) affects the measurement of radial velocities (RV). Radial velocities have been widely used to detect exoplanets, although the stellar signal significantly impacts the detection and characterisation performance, especially for low mass planets. On the other hand, RV time series are also very rich in information on stellar processes. In this lecture, I review the context of RV observations, describe how radial velocities are measured, and the properties of typical observations. I present the challenges represented by stellar activity for exoplanet studies, and describe the processes at play. Finally, I review the approaches which have been developed, including observations and simulations, as well as solar and stellar comparisons.
We report on the current status of the radial velocity monitoring of nearby OB stars to look for binaries with small mass ratios. The combined data of radial velocities using the domestic 1-2 m-class telescopes seems to confirm the variations of radial velocities in a few weeks for four out of ten target single-lined spectroscopic binaries. More data are needed to estimate the exact periods and mass distributions.
Accurate radial velocity determinations of optical emission lines (i.e. [NII]${lambda}{lambda}$6548,6584, H${alpha}$, and [SII]${lambda}{lambda}$6717,6731) are very important for investigating the kinematics and dynamics properties of nebulae. The second stage survey program of Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) has started a sub-survey of nebulae (MRS-N) which will spectroscopically observe the optical emission lines of a large sample of nebulae near the Galactic plane. Until now, 15 MRS-N plates have been observed from 2017 September to 2019 June. Based on fitting the sky emission lines in the red band spectra of MRS-N, we investigate the precision of wavelength calibration and find there are systematic deviations of radial velocities (RVs) from $sim$0.2 to 4 km/s for different plates. Especially for the plates obtained in 2018 March, the systematic deviations of RVs can be as large as $sim$4 km/s, which then go down to $sim$0.2-0.5 km/s at the end of 2018 and January 2019. A RVs calibration function is proposed for these MRS-N plates, which can simultaneously and successfully calibration the systematic deviations and improve the precision of RVs.
Dwarf carbon (dC) stars, main sequence stars showing carbon molecular bands, are enriched by mass transfer from a previous asymptotic-giant-branch (AGB) companion, which has since evolved to a white dwarf. While previous studies have found radial-velocity variations for large samples of dCs, there are still relatively few dC orbital periods in the literature and no dC eclipsing binaries have yet been found. Here, we analyze photometric light curves from DR5 of the Zwicky Transient Facility for a sample of 944 dC stars. From these light curves, we identify 34 periodically variable dC stars. Remarkably, of the periodic dCs, 82% have periods less than two days. We also provide spectroscopic follow-up for four of these periodic systems, measuring radial velocity variations in three of them. Short-period dCs are almost certainly post-common-envelope binary systems, since the periodicity is most likely related to the orbital period, with tidally locked rotation and photometric modulation on the dC either from spots or from ellipsoidal variations. We discuss evolutionary scenarios that these binaries may have taken to accrete sufficient C-rich material while avoiding truncation of the thermally pulsing AGB phase needed to provide such material in the first place. We compare these dCs to common-envelope models to show that dC stars probably cannot accrete enough C-rich material during the common-envelope phase, suggesting another mechanism like wind-Roche lobe overflow is necessary. The periodic dCs in this paper represent a prime sample for spectroscopic follow-up and for comparison to future models of wind-Roche lobe overflow mass transfer.