ALBERT

Description: The candidate SX Phe star KIC 11754974 shows a remarkably high number of combination frequencies in the Fourier amplitude spectrum: 123 of the 166 frequencies in our multifrequency fit are linear combinations of independent modes. Predictable patterns in frequency spacings are seen in the Fourier transform of the light curve. We present an analysis of 180 d of short-cadence Kepler photometry and of new spectroscopic data for this evolved, late A-type star. We infer from the 1150-d, long-cadence light curve, and in two different ways, that our target is the primary of a 343-d, non-eclipsing binary system. According to both methods, the mass function is similar, f ( M ) = 0.0207 ± 0.0003 M . The observed pulsations are modelled extensively, using separate, state-of-the-art, time-dependent convection (TDC) and rotating models. The models match the observed temperature and low metallicity, finding a mass of 1.50–1.56 M . The models suggest that the whole star is metal poor, and that the low metallicity is not just a surface abundance peculiarity. This is the best frequency analysis of an SX Phe star, and the only Kepler  Sct star to be modelled with both TDC and rotating models.

Description: Data from the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) project and other helioseismic experiments provide a test for models of stellar interiors and for the thermodynamic and radiative properties, on which the models depend, of matter under the extreme conditions found in the sun. Current models are in agreement with the helioseismic inferences, which suggests, for example, that the disagreement between the predicted and observed fluxes of neutrinos from the sun is not caused by errors in the models. However, the GONG data reveal subtle errors in the models, such as an excess in sound speed just beneath the convection zone. These discrepancies indicate effects that have so far not been correctly accounted for; for example, it is plausible that the sound-speed differences reflect weak mixing in stellar interiors, of potential importance to the overall evolution of stars and ultimately to estimates of the age of the galaxy based on stellar evolution calculations.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Christensen-Dalsgaard -- Dappen -- Ajukov -- Anderson -- Antia -- Basu -- Baturin -- Berthomieu -- Chaboyer -- Chitre -- Cox -- Demarque -- Donatowicz -- Dziembowski -- Gabriel -- Gough -- Guenther -- Guzik -- Harvey -- Hill -- Houdek -- Iglesias -- Kosovichev -- Leibacher -- Morel -- Proffitt -- Provost -- Reiter -- Rhodes Jr -- Rogers -- Roxburgh -- Thompson -- Ulrich -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1996 May 31;272(5266):1286-92.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉J. Christensen-Dalsgaard and S. Basu are with Theoretical Astrophysics Center and Institute of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. W. Dappen and E. J. Rhodes Jr. are with the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. S. V. Ajukov is with the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, Russia. E. R. Anderson, J. W. Harvey, F. Hill, and J. W. Leibacher are with the National Solar Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson, AZ 85726, USA. H. M. Antia and S. M. Chitre are with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, India. V. A. Baturin, I. W. Roxburgh, and M. J. Thompson are with the Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London E1 4NS, UK. G. Berthomieu, P. Morel, and J. Provost are with the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, Nice, France. B. Chaboyer is with CITA, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. A. N. Cox and J. A. Guzik are with Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA. P. Demarque is with the Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. J. Donatowicz and G. Houdek are with the Institut fur Astronomie, Universitat Wien, Vienna, Austria. W. A. Dziembowski is with the Copernicus Center, Warsaw, Poland. M. Gabriel is with the Institut d'Astrophysique, Universite de Liege, Liege, Belgium. D. O. Gough is with the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. D. B. Guenther is with the Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. C. A. Iglesias and F. J. Rogers are with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA. A. G. Kosovichev is with Center for Space Science and Astrophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. C. R. Proffitt is with Computer Sciences Corporation, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. J. Reiter is with the Mathematisches Institut, Technische Universitat Munchen, Munich, Germany. R. K. Ulrich is with the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8662456" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Global Oscillation Network Group data reveal that the internal structure of the sun can be well represented by a calibrated standard model. However, immediately beneath the convection zone and at the edge of the energy-generating core, the sound-speed variation is somewhat smoother in the sun than it is in the model. This could be a consequence of chemical inhomogeneity that is too severe in the model, perhaps owing to inaccurate modeling of gravitational settling or to neglected macroscopic motion that may be present in the sun. Accurate knowledge of the sun's structure enables inferences to be made about the physics that controls the sun; for example, through the opacity, the equation of state, or wave motion. Those inferences can then be used elsewhere in astrophysics.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gough -- Kosovichev -- Toomre -- Anderson -- Antia -- Basu -- Chaboyer -- Chitre -- Christensen-Dalsgaard -- Dziembowski -- Eff-Darwich -- Elliott -- Giles -- Goode -- Guzik -- Harvey -- Hill -- Leibacher -- Monteiro -- Richard -- Sekii -- Shibahashi -- Takata -- Thompson -- Vauclair -- Vorontsov -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1996 May 31;272(5266):1296-300.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉D. O. Gough, J. R. Elliott, and T. Sekii are with the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK. A. G. Kosovichev and P. R. Giles are with HEPL, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. J. Toomre is at JILA, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. E. Anderson, J. W. Harvey, F. Hill, and J. W. Leibacher are at the National Solar Observatory, Tucson, AZ, USA. H. M. Antia and S. M. Chitre are at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Bombay, India. S. Basu and J. Christensen-Dalsgaard are at the Theoretical Astrophysics Centre, Aarhus University, Denmark. B. Chaboyer is at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto, Canada. W. A. Dziembowski is at the Copernicus Astronomical Center, Warsaw, Poland. A. Eff-Darwich is at the Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias, Tenerife, Canary Islands. P. R. Goode is at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA. J. A. Guzik is at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA. M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro is at the University of Oporto, Postugal. O. Richard and S. Vauclair are at the Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees, Toulouse, France. H. Shibahashi and M. Takata are in the Department of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. M. J. Thompson and S. V. Vorontsov are at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, London, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8662458" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: We present Kepler photometry and ground-based spectroscopy of KIC 4544587, a short-period eccentric eclipsing binary system with self-excited pressure and gravity modes, tidally excited modes, tidally influenced p modes and rapid apsidal motion of 182 yr per cycle. The primary and secondary components of KIC 4544587 reside within the  Scuti and  Dor instability region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, respectively. By applying the binary modelling software phoebe to prewhitened Kepler photometric data and radial velocity data obtained using the William Herschel Telescope and 4-m Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak Northern Observatory (KPNO), the fundamental parameters of this important system have been determined, including the stellar masses, 1.98 ±0.07 and 1.60 ± 0.06  M , and radii, 1.76 ± 0.03 and 1.42 ± 0.02 R , for the primary and secondary components, respectively. Frequency analysis of the residual data revealed 31 modes, 14 in the gravity mode region and 17 in the pressure mode region. Of the 14 gravity modes, 8 are orbital harmonics: a signature of tidal resonance. While the measured amplitude of these modes may be partially attributed to residual signal from binary model subtraction, we demonstrate through consideration of the folded light curve that these frequencies do in fact correspond to tidally excited pulsations. Furthermore, we present an echelle diagram of the pressure mode frequency region (modulo the orbital frequency) and demonstrate that the tides are also influencing the p modes. A first look at asteroseismology hints that the secondary component is responsible for the p modes, which is contrary to our expectation that the hotter star should pulsate in higher radial overtone, higher frequency p modes.

Description: Among the most spectacular variable stars are the luminous blue variables (LBVs), which can show three types of variability. The LBV phase of evolution is poorly understood, and the driving mechanisms for the variability are not known. The most common type of variability, the S Dor instability, occurs on time-scales of tens of years. During an S Dor outburst, the visual magnitude of the star increases, while the bolometric magnitude stays approximately constant. In this work, we investigate pulsation as a possible trigger for the S Dor-type outbursts. We calculate the pulsations of envelope models using a non-linear hydrodynamic code including a time-dependent convection treatment. We initialize the pulsation in the hydrodynamic model based on linear non-adiabatic calculations. Pulsation properties for a full grid of models from 20 to 85 M were calculated, and in this paper, we focus on the few models that show either long-period pulsations or outburst-like behaviour, with photospheric radial velocities reaching 70–80 km s –1 . At the present time, our models cannot follow mass-loss, so once the outburst event begins, our simulations are terminated. Our results show that pulsations alone are not able to drive enough surface expansion to eject the outer layers. However, the outbursts and long-period pulsations discussed here produce large variations in effective temperature and luminosity, which are expected to produce large variations in the radiatively driven mass-loss rates.