No Arabic abstract
RV variable stars are important in astrophysics. The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) spectroscopic survey has provided ~ 6.5 million stellar spectra in its Data Release 4 (DR4). During the survey, ~ 4.7 million unique sources were targeted and ~ 1 million stars observed repeatedly. The probabilities of stars being RV variables are estimated by comparing the observed radial velocity variations with the simulated ones. We build a catalog of 80,702 RV variable candidates with probability greater than 0.60 by analyzing the duplicate-observed multi-epoch sources covered by the LAMOST DR4. Simulations and cross-identifications show that the purity of the catalog is higher than 80%. The catalog consists of 77% binary systems and 7% pulsating stars as well as 16% pollution by single stars. 3,138 RV variables are classified through cross-identifications with published results in literatures. By using the 3,138 sources common to both LAMOST and a collection of published RV variable catalogs we are able to analyze LAMOSTs RV variable detection rate. The efficiency of the method adopted in this work relies not only on the sampling frequency of observations but also periods and amplitudes of RV variables. With the progress of LAMOST, Gaia and other surveys, more and more RV variables would will be confirmed and classified. This catalog is valuable for other large-scale surveys, especially for RV variable searches. The catalog will be released according to the LAMOST Data Policy via http://dr4.lamost.org.
EZ Cnc, or EPIC 212182292, is a non-Blazhko RRab variable star located in the field of K2 Campaign 16. Its atmospheric parameters ($T_{rm eff}$, $log{g}$, [M/H]) and radial velocities are measured from the 55 high-quality LAMOST medium-resolution spectra. The fundamental frequency of pulsation is derived as $f=1.8323(17)$ d$^{-1}$ from the K2 light curves. The amplitude ratios $R_{21} = 0.5115(15), 0.490(8)$, $R_{31} = 0.3249(20), 0.279(7)$ and Fourier phase differences $varphi_{21}=2.7550(20), 2.764(16)$, $varphi_{31}=5.7194(25), 5.719(31)$ are determined from the Fourier decomposition of K2 light curve and LAMOST radial velocity curve, respectively. Through the constraints of the parameters, four optimal models are obtained in a time-dependent turbulent convection model survey for EPIC 212182292. The parameters of EPIC 212182292 are derived as $M=0.48pm0.03$ M$_{odot}$, $L = 42pm2$ L$_{odot}$, $T_{rm eff}=6846pm50$ K, $log{g}=2.79pm0.01$ dex, and $Z = 0.006pm0.002$, respectively. The precisely determined parameters for RRab variable stars like EPIC 212180092 might help to better understand the period-luminosity relationship of RR Lyrae stars.
Variable sources probe a wide range of astrophysical phenomena. We present a catalog of over ten million variable source candidates found in Data Release 1 (DR1) of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). We perform a periodicity search up to a frequency of 160 day^-1, and we classify the light curves into erratic and smooth variables. We also present variability indicators and the results of a periodicity search, up to a frequency of 5 day^-1, for about 1 billion sources in the ZTF-DR1 light curve database. We present several new short-period (<90 min) candidates, and about 60 new dwarf nova candidates, including two candidate eclipsing systems. Both the 10 million variables catalog and ~1 billion source catalog are available online in catsHTM format.
We present ~47,000 periodic variables found during the analysis of 5.4 million variable star candidates within a 20,000 square degree region covered by the Catalina Surveys Data Release-1 (CSDR1). Combining these variables with type-ab RR Lyrae from our previous work, we produce an on-line catalog containing periods, amplitudes, and classifications for ~61,000 periodic variables. By cross-matching these variables with those from prior surveys, we find that > 90% of the ~8,000 known periodic variables in the survey region are recovered. For these sources we find excellent agreement between our catalog and prior values of luminosity, period and amplitude, as well as classification. We investigate the rate of confusion between objects classified as contact binaries and type-c RR Lyrae (RRcs) based on periods, colours, amplitudes, metalicities, radial velocities and surface gravities. We find that no more than few percent of these variables in these classes are misidentified. By deriving distances for this clean sample of ~5,500 RRcs, we trace the path of the Sagittarius tidal streams within the Galactic halo. Selecting 146 outer-halo RRcs with SDSS radial velocities, we confirm the presence of a coherent halo structure that is inconsistent with current N-body simulations of the Sagittarius tidal stream. We also find numerous long-period variables that are very likely associated within the Sagittarius tidal streams system. Based on the examination of 31,000 contact binary light curves we find evidence for two subgroups exhibiting irregular lightcurves. One subgroup presents significant variations in mean brightness that are likely due to chromospheric activity. The other subgroup shows stable modulations over more than a thousand days and thereby provides evidence that the OConnell effect is not due to stellar spots.
Stellar variability in the near-infrared (NIR) remains largely unexplored. The exploitation of public science archives with data-mining methods offers a perspective for the time-domain exploration of the NIR sky. We perform a comprehensive search for stellar variability using the optical-NIR multi-band photometric data in the public Calibration Database of the WFCAM Science Archive (WSA), with the aim of contributing to the general census of variable stars, and to extend the current scarce inventory of accurate NIR light curves for a number of variable star classes. We introduce new variability indices designed for multi-band data with correlated sampling, and apply them for pre-selecting variable star candidates, i.e., light curves that are dominated by correlated variations, from noise-dominated ones. Pre-selection criteria are established by robust numerical tests for evaluating the response of variability indices to colored noise characteristic to the data. We find 275 periodic variable stars and an additional 44 objects with suspected variability with uncertain periods or apparently aperiodic variation. Only 44 of these objects had been previously known, including 11 RR~Lyrae stars in the outskirts of the globular cluster M3 (NGC~5272). We provide a preliminary classification of the new variable stars that have well-measured light curves, but the variability types of a large number of objects remain ambiguous. We classify most of the new variables as contact binary stars, but we also find several pulsating stars, among which 34 are probably new field RR~Lyrae and 3 are likely Cepheids. We also identify 32 highly reddened variable objects close to previously known dark nebulae, suggesting that these are embedded young stellar objects. We publish our results and all light-curve data as the WFCAM Variable Star Catalog.
The present work presents our efforts at identifying new mercury-manganese (HgMn/CP3) stars using spectra obtained with the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST). Suitable candidates were searched for among pre-selected early-type spectra from LAMOST DR4 using a modified version of the MKCLASS code that probes several Hg II and Mn II features. The spectra of the resulting 332 candidates were visually inspected. Using parallax data and photometry from Gaia DR2, we investigated magnitudes, distances from the Sun, and the evolutionary status of our sample stars. We also searched for variable stars using diverse photometric survey sources. We present 99 bona fide CP3 stars, 19 good CP3 star candidates, and seven candidates. Our sample consists of mostly new discoveries and contains, on average, the faintest CP3 stars known (peak distribution 9.5 < G < 13.5 mag). All stars are contained within the narrow spectral temperature-type range from B6 to B9.5, in excellent agreement with the expectations and the derived mass estimates (2.4 < M(Sun) < 4 for most objects). Our sample stars are between 100 Myr and 500 Myr old and cover the whole age range from zero-age to terminal-age main sequence. They are almost homogeneously distributed at fractional ages on the main sequence < 80%, with an apparent accumulation of objects between fractional ages of 50% to 80%. We find a significant impact of binarity on the mass and age estimates. Eight photometric variables were discovered, most of which show monoperiodic variability in agreement with rotational modulation. Together with the recently published catalogue of APOGEE CP3 stars, our work significantly increases the sample size of known Galactic CP3 stars, paving the way for future in-depth statistical studies.