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Register a new userTESS survey of rotational and pulsational variability of mercury-manganese stars
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Mercury-manganese (HgMn) stars are late-B upper main sequence chemically peculiar stars distinguished by large overabundances of heavy elements, slow rotation, and frequent membership in close binary systems. These stars lack strong magnetic fields typical of magnetic Bp stars but occasionally exhibit non-uniform surface distributions of chemical elements. The physical origin and the extent of this spot formation phenomenon remains unknown. Here we use 2-min cadence light curves of 64 HgMn stars observed by the TESS satellite during the first two years of its operation to investigate the incidence of rotational modulation and pulsations among HgMn stars. We found rotational variability with amplitudes of 0.1-3 mmag in 84 per cent of the targets, indicating ubiquitous presence of starspots on HgMn-star surfaces. Rotational period measurements reveal six fast-rotating stars with periods below 1.2 d, including one ultra-fast rotator (HD 14228) with a 0.34 d period. We also identify several HgMn stars showing multi-periodic g-mode pulsations, tidally induced variation and eclipses in binary systems.
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The new photometric data on pulsating Ap star HD~27463 obtained recently with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (textit{TESS}) are analysed to search for variability. Our analysis shows that HD~27463 exhibits two types of photometric variability. The low frequency variability with the period $P$ =~2.834274 $pm$ 0.000008 d can be explained in terms of axial stellar rotation assuming the oblique magnetic rotator model and presence of surface abundance/brightness spots, while the detected high-frequency variations are characteristics of $delta$~Scuti pulsations. From the analysis of Balmer line profiles visible in two FEROS spectra of HD~27463 we have derived its effective temperature and surface gravity, finding values that are close to those published for this star in the textit{TESS} Input Catalogue (TIC). Knowing the rotation period and the v$sin{i}$ value estimated from the fitting of Balmer line profiles we found that the rotational axis is inclined to the line of sight with an angle of $i=33pm8deg$. Our best-fitting model of the observed pulsation modes results in an overshoot parameter value $f_{ov} = 0.014$ and values of global stellar parameters that are in good agreement with the data reported in the TIC and with the data derived from fitting Balmer line profiles. This model indicates an age of 5.0 $pm$~0.4 $times 10^8$~yrs, which corresponds to a core hydrogen fraction of 0.33.
Eclipsing binary stars are rare and extremely valuable astrophysical laboratories that make possible precise determination of fundamental stellar parameters. Investigation of early-type chemically peculiar stars in eclipsing binaries provides important information for understanding the origin and evolutionary context of their anomalous surface chemistry. In this study we discuss observations of eclipse variability in six mercury-manganese (HgMn) stars monitored by the TESS satellite. These discoveries double the number of known eclipsing HgMn stars and yield several interesting objects requiring further study. In particular, we confirm eclipses in HD 72208, thereby establishing this object as the longest-period eclipsing HgMn star. Among five other eclipsing binaries, reported here for the first time, HD 36892 and HD 53004 stand out as eccentric systems showing heartbeat variability in addition to eclipses. The latter object has the highest eccentricity among eclipsing HgMn stars and also exhibits tidally induced oscillations. Finally, we find evidence that HD 55776 may be orbited by a white dwarf companion.
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.
Light curves and periodograms of 160 B stars observed by the TESS space mission and 29 main-sequence B stars from Kepler and K2 were used to classify the variability type. There are 114 main-sequence B stars in the TESS sample, of which 45 are classified as possible rotational variables. This confirms previous findings that a large fraction (about 40 percent) of A and B stars may exhibit rotational modulation. Gaia DR2 parallaxes were used to estimate luminosities, from which the radii and equatorial rotational velocities can be deduced. It is shown that observed values of the projected rotational velocities are lower than the estimated equatorial velocities for nearly all the stars, as they should be if rotation is the cause of the light variation. We conclude that a large fraction of main-sequence B stars appear to contain surface features which cannot likely be attributed to abundance patches.
Context. Mercury-manganese (HgMn) stars are a class of slowly rotating chemically peculiar main-sequence late B-type stars. More than two-thirds of the HgMn stars are known to belong to spectroscopic binaries. Aims. By determining orbital solutions for binary HgMn stars, we will be able to obtain the masses for both components and the distance to the system. Consequently, we can establish the position of both components in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and confront the chemical peculiarities of the HgMn stars with their age and evolutionary history. Methods. We initiated a program to identify interferometric binaries in a sample of HgMn stars, using the PIONIER near-infrared interferometer at the VLTI on Cerro Paranal, Chile. For the detected systems, we intend to obtain full orbital solutions in conjunction with spectroscopic data. Results. The data obtained for the SB2 system 41 Eridani allowed the determination of the orbital elements with a period of just five days and a semi-major axis of under 2 mas. Including published radial velocity measurements, we derived almost identical masses of 3.17 +/- 0.07 M_Sun for the primary and 3.07 +/- 0.07 M_Sun for the secondary. The measured magnitude difference is less than 0.1 mag. The orbital parallax is 18.05 +/- 0.17 mas, which is in good agreement with the Hipparcos trigonometric parallax of 18.33 +/- 0.15 mas. The stellar diameters are resolved as well at 0.39 +/- 0.03 mas. The spin rate is synchronized with the orbital rate.
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