No Arabic abstract
We present new radial velocities, improved pulsation periods and reference epoch s of 11 field RR Lyrae ab-type variables: AS Vir, BS Aps, CD Vel, DT Hya, RV Oct, TY Gru, UV Oct, V1645 Sgr, WY Ant, XZ Aps and Z Mic. This study is based on high resolution spectra obtained with the echelle spectro graph of the 2.5-m du Pont telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. We obtained ~200 spectra per star (i.e, total of ~2300 spectra) distributed more or less uniformly throughout their pulsation cycles. Radial velocity curves and photometric lightcurves phased to our new ephemerides are presented for all program stars. In a subsequent paper, we will use these spectra to derive stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical compositions throughout the pulsational cycles, based purely on spectroscopic constraints.
Among the tens of thousands of known RR Lyrae stars there are only a handful that show indications of possible binarity. The question why this is the case is still unsolved, and has recently sparked several studies dedicated to the search for additional RR Lyraes in binary systems. Such systems are particularly valuable because they might allow to constrain the stellar mass. Most of the recent studies, however, are based on photometry by finding a light time effect in the timings of maximum light. This approach is a very promising and successful one, but it has a major drawback: by itself, it cannot serve as a definite proof of binarity, because other phenomena such as the Blazhko effect or intrinsic period changes could lead to similar results. Spectroscopic radial velocity measurements, on the other hand, can serve as definite proof of binarity. We have therefore started a project to study spectroscopically RR Lyrae stars that are suspected to be binaries. We have obtained radial velocity (RV) curves with the 2.1m telescope at McDonald observatory. From these we derive systemic RVs which we will compare to previous measurements in order to find changes induced by orbital motions. We also construct templates of the RV curves that can facilitate future studies. We also observed the most promising RR Lyrae binary candidate, TU UMa, as no recent spectroscopic measurements were available. We present a densely covered pulsational RV curve, which will be used to test the predictions of the orbit models that are based on the O-C variations.
Detailed elemental abundance patterns of metal-poor ([Fe/H] ~ -1~dex) stars in the Galactic bulge indicate that a number of them are consistent with globular cluster (GC) stars and may be former members of dissolved GCs. This would indicate that a few per cent of the Galactic bulge was built up from destruction and/or evaporation of globular clusters. Here an attempt is made to identify such presumptive stripped stars originating from the massive, inner Galaxy globular cluster NGC~6441 using its rich RR Lyrae variable star (RRL) population. We present radial velocities of forty RRLs centered on the globular cluster NGC~6441. All of the 13 RRLs observed within the cluster tidal radius have velocities consistent with cluster membership, with an average radial velocity of 24 +- 5~km/s and a star-to-star scatter of 11~km/s. This includes two new RRLs that were previously not associated with the cluster. Eight RRLs with radial velocities consistent with cluster membership but up to three time the distance from the tidal radius are also reported. These potential extra-tidal RRLs also have exceptionally long periods, which is a curious characteristic of the NGC~6441 RRL population that hosts RRLs with periods longer than seen anywhere else in the Milky Way. As expected of stripped cluster stars, most are inline with the clusters orbit. Therefore, either the tidal radius of NGC~6441 is underestimated and/or we are seeing dissolving cluster stars stemming from NGC~6441 that are building up the old spheroidal bulge.
RR Lyrae stars play an important role as distance indicators and stellar population tracers. In this context the construction of accurate pulsation models is crucial to understand the observed properties and to constrain the intrinsic stellar parameters of these pulsators. The physical mechanism driving pulsation in RR Lyrae stars has been known since the middle of the 20th century and many efforts have been performed during the last few decades in the construction of more and more refined pulsation models. In particular, nonlinear pulsation models including a nonlocal time-dependent treatment of convection, such as the ones originally developed in Los Alamos in the seventies, allow us to reproduce all the relevant observables of radial pulsation and to establish accurate relations and methods to constrain the intrinsic stellar properties and the distance of these variables. The most recent results on RR Lyrae pulsation obtained through these kinds of models will be presented and a few still debated problems will be discussed.
We analyzed photometry for the up-to-date collection of the first-overtone RR Lyrae stars (RRc; 11415 stars) and double-mode RR Lyrae stars (RRd; 148 stars) towards the Galactic bulge from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. We analyzed frequency spectra of these stars in search for additional, low-amplitude signals, beyond the radial modes. We focused on stars from two groups: $RR_{0.61}$ and $RR_{0.68}$. In the first group, additional low-amplitude signals have periods shorter than the first-overtone period; period ratios fall in the 0.60-0.64 range. In the second group, additional low-amplitude signals have periods longer than the first-overtone period; period ratios tightly cluster around 0.68. Altogether we have detected 960 and 147 RR Lyrae stars that belong to $RR_{0.61}$ and $RR_{0.68}$ groups, respectively, which yield the incidence rates of 8.3 and 1.3 per cent of the considered sample. We discuss statistical properties of RR Lyrae stars with additional periodicities. For $RR_{0.61}$ group we provide strong arguments that additional periodicities are connected to non-radial pulsation modes of degrees $ell=8$ and $ell=9$, as proposed by Dziembowski. We have also detected two double-periodic variables, with two close periodicities, similar to RR Lyrae variable V37 in NGC 6362. Properties of these peculiar variables, which may form a new group of double-mode pulsators, are discussed.
We report the discovery of a new group of double-periodic stars in the OGLE Galactic bulge photometry. In 38 stars identified as fundamental mode RR~Lyrae and 4 classified as the first-overtone RR~Lyrae, we detected additional shorter periodicity. Periods of the dominant variability in the newly discovered group are $0.28<P_{rm D}<0.41$,days. Period ratios $(0.68 - 0.72)$ are smaller than the period ratios of the Galactic bulge RRd stars. The typical amplitude ratio (of the additional to the dominant periodicity) is 20,% for the stars identified as fundamental mode RR~Lyrae and 50,% for stars classified as the first-overtone RR~Lyrae. Ten stars from our sample exhibit equidistant peaks in the frequency spectrum, that suggest the Blazhko-type modulation of the main pulsation frequency and/or the additional periodicity. The Fourier coefficients $R_{mathrm{21}}$ and $R_{mathrm{31}}$ are one of the lowest among fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars, but among the highest for the first-overtone pulsators. For the phase Fourier coefficients $varphi_{mathrm{21}}$ and $varphi_{mathrm{31}}$, our stars lie in between RRab and RRc stars. Discussed stars were compared with the radial, linear pulsation models. Their position in the Petersen diagram cannot be reproduced assuming that two radial modes are excited and their physical parameters are similar to that characteristic for RR~Lyrae stars. The non-radial mode scenario also faces difficulties. We conclude that the dominant variability is most likely due to pulsation in the radial fundamental mode including stars classified as the first overtone mode pulsators. At this point, we cannot explain the nature of the additional periodicity. Even more, classification of the stars as RR~Lyrae should be treated as tentative.