The recently discovered subdwarf B (sdB) pulsator KIC7668647 is one of the 18 pulsating sdB stars detected in the Kepler field. It features a rich g-mode frequency spectrum, with a few low-amplitude p-modes at short periods. We use new ground-based
low-resolution spectroscopy, and the near-continuous 2.88 year Kepler lightcurve, to reveal that KIC7668647 consists of a subdwarf B star with an unseen white-dwarf companion with an orbital period of 14.2d. An orbit with a radial-velocity amplitude of 39km/s is consistently determined from the spectra, from the orbital Doppler beaming seen by Kepler at 163ppm, and from measuring the orbital light-travel delay of 27 by timing of the many pulsations seen in the Kepler lightcurve. The white dwarf has a minimum mass of 0.40 M_sun. We use our high signal-to-noise average spectra to study the atmospheric parameters of the sdB star, and find that nitrogen and iron have abundances close to solar values, while helium, carbon, oxygen and silicon are underabundant relative to the solar mixture. We use the full Kepler Q06--Q17 lightcurve to extract 132 significant pulsation frequencies. Period-spacing relations and multiplet splittings allow us to identify the modal degree L for the majority of the modes. Using the g-mode multiplet splittings we constrain the internal rotation period at the base of the envelope to 46-48d as a first seismic result for this star. The few p-mode splittings may point at a slightly longer rotation period further out in the envelope of the star. From mode-visibility considerations we derive that the inclination of the rotation axis of the sdB in KIC7668647 must be around ~60 degrees. Furthermore, we find strong evidence for a few multiplets indicative of degree 3 <= L <= 8, which is another novelty in sdB-star observations made possible by Kepler.
The Mt. Suhora M,dwarf survey searching for pulsations in low mass main sequence stars has acquired CCD photometry of 46 M,dwarf stars during the first year of the project (Baran et al 2011). As a by-product of this search hundreds field stars have b
een checked for variability. This paper presents our initial result of a search for periodic variables in field stars observed in the course of the survey. On the basis of the periodicity and the shape of the light curves, eight new variables has been detected, among which five are $delta$ Scuti stars and three likely RR Lyrae stars. Although variation in one of the stars has been previously detected, it was classified incorrectly. To support our classification, in August 2010, we performed spectroscopic observations to derive spectral types and luminosity classes for all eight variable stars.
We present our discovery of a new hybrid pulsating subdwarf B star, J08069+1527. The effective temperature and surface gravity of 28,500$pm$400,K and 5.37$pm$0.04,dex, respectively, place this object inside the instability strip and also among other
pulsating hot subdwarfs of a hybrid nature, right next to another fascinating star: Balloon,090100001. From this proximity, we anticipated this star could pulsate in both high and low frequency modes. Indeed, our analysis of photometric data confirmed our prediction. We detected two peaks in the high frequency region and two other peaks at low frequencies. In addition, the amplitude of the dominant mode is very high and comparable to the dominant peaks in other hybrid subdwarf B stars. Since this star is bright, we performed time-series low resolution spectroscopy. Despite a low signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, we were able to detect the main peak from these data. All our results strongly indicate that J08069+1527 is a high amplitude pulsating hot subdwarf B star of hybrid nature. By analogy to the other pulsating sdB star, we judge that the dominant mode we detected here has radial nature. Future stellar modeling should provide us with quite good constrains as p- and g-modes presented in this star are driven in different parts of its interior.
