HD 187547 was the first candidate that led to the suggestion that solar-like oscillations are present in delta Scuti stars. Longer observations, however, show that the modes interpreted as solar-like oscillations have either very long mode lifetimes,
longer than 960 days, or are coherent. These results are incompatible with the nature of `pure stochastic excitation as observed in solar-like stars. Nonetheless, one point is certain: the opacity mechanism alone cannot explain the oscillation spectrum of HD 187547. Here we present new theoretical investigations showing that convection dynamics can intrinsically excite coherent pulsations in the chemically peculiar delta Scuti star HD 187547. More precisely, it is the perturbations of the mean Reynold stresses (turbulent pressure) that drives the pulsations and the excitation takes place predominantly in the hydrogen ionization zone.
Observations of the pulsations of stars can be used to infer their interior structure and test theoretical models. The main sequence $gamma$ Doradus (Dor) and $delta$ Scuti (Sct) stars with masses 1.2-2.5 $M_{sun}$ are particularly useful for these s
tudies. The $gamma$ Dor stars pulsate in high-order $g$ modes with periods of order 1 day, driven by convective blocking at the base of their envelope convection zone. The $delta$ Sct stars pulsate in low-order $g$ and $p$ modes with periods of order 2 hours, driven by the $kappa$ mechanism operating in the Heii ionization zone. Theory predicts an overlap region in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram between instability regions, where hybrid stars pulsating in both types of modes should exist. The two types of modes with properties governed by different portions of the stellar interior provide complementary model constraints. Among the known $gamma$ Dor and $delta$ Sct stars, only four have been confirmed as hybrids. Now, analysis of combined Quarter 0 and Quarter 1 Kepler data for hundreds of variable stars shows that the frequency spectra are so rich that there are practically no pure $delta$ Sct or $gamma$ Dor pulsators, i.e. essentially all of the stars show frequencies in both the $delta$ Sct and $gamma$ Dor frequency range. A new observational classification scheme is proposed that takes into account the amplitude as well as the frequency, and is applied to categorize 234 stars as $delta$ Sct, $gamma$ Dor, $delta$ Sct/$gamma$ Dor or $gamma$ Dor/$delta$ Sct hybrids.
