Kepler observations of variability in B-type stars

The analysis of the light curves of 48 B-type stars observed by Kepler is presented. Among these are 15 pulsating stars, all of which show low frequencies characteristic of SPB stars. Seven of these stars also show a few weak, isolated high frequencies and they could be considered as SPB/beta Cep hybrids. In all cases the frequency spectra are quite different from what is seen from ground-based observations. We suggest that this is because most of the low frequencies are modes of high degree which are predicted to be unstable in models of mid-B stars. We find that there are non-pulsating stars within the beta Cep and SPB instability strips. Apart from the pulsating stars, we can identify stars with frequency groupings similar to what is seen in Be stars but which are not Be stars. The origin of the groupings is not clear, but may be related to rotation. We find periodic variations in other stars which we attribute to proximity effects in binary systems or possibly rotational modulation. We find no evidence for pulsating stars between the cool edge of the SPB and the hot edge of the delta Sct instability strips. None of the stars show the broad features which can be attributed to stochastically-excited modes as recently proposed. Among our sample of B stars are two chemically peculiar stars, one of which is a HgMn star showing rotational modulation in the light curve.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, 4 table

A search for white dwarfs in the Galactic plane: : the field and the open cluster population

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The Version of Record [R. Raddi, et al, ‘A search for white dwarfs in the Galactic plane: the field and the open cluster population’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 457 (2): 1988-2004, first published online 5 February 2016] is available online at doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw042. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.We investigated the prospects for systematic searches of white dwarfs at low Galactic latitudes, using the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) H$\alpha$ Photometric Survey of the Galactic plane and Bulge (VPHAS+). We targeted 17 white dwarf candidates along sightlines of known open clusters, aiming to identify potential cluster members. We confirmed all the 17 white dwarf candidates from blue/optical spectroscopy, and we suggest five of them to be likely cluster members. We estimated progenitor ages and masses for the candidate cluster members, and compared our findings to those for other cluster white dwarfs. A white dwarf in NGC 3532 is the most massive known cluster member (1.13 M$_{\odot}$), likely with an oxygen-neon core, for which we estimate an $8.8_{-4.3}^{+1.2}$ M$_{\odot}$ progenitor, close to the mass-divide between white dwarf and neutron star progenitors. A cluster member in Ruprecht 131 is a magnetic white dwarf, whose progenitor mass exceeded 2-3 M$_{\odot}$. We stress that wider searches, and improved cluster distances and ages derived from data of the ESA Gaia mission, will advance the understanding of the mass-loss processes for low- to intermediate-mass stars.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Detailed chemical composition of the open cluster IC 4651: The iron peak, alpha elements, and Li

We present a detailed chemical analysis of 22 stars along the colour-magnitude sequence of the intermediate-age (1.7 Gyr) open cluster IC 4651. We find for the cluster a well-defined Fe abundance of [Fe/H]= 0.10 +/- 0.03 (internal errors), with a reddening E(b-y)=0.091. We also derive abundances for the alpha elements Mg, Si, Ti, and Ca and find a moderate enhancement of the three former elements. Among the Fe group elements, Cr and Ni are slightly overabundant ([X/Fe] ~ 0.05). The Na abundance among the giants is more than 0.2 dex higher than in the dwarfs. We interpret this as due to dredge-up of 23Na in the giants. Li abundances show a well-defined pattern: the Solar-type stars have an almost constant Li abundance, just below that of the Hyades, and the Li-dip is pronounced and well determined. Turnoff stars just above the dip have a `cosmic' Li abundance, but within a very small range of magnitudes (0.25 mag) higher on the turnoff, Li drops by more than a factor 10 implying that some extra mixing is required. Among the giants, two probable clump stars show detectable Li, while all the other (likely) RGB stars do not. We show that rotating stellar models including the most recent developments for meridional circulation and turbulence by shear instabilities explain very well the observed Li pattern. The possibility remains open that the giants exhibiting the highest Li abundances are actual RGB bump stars which have just been through the so-called "lithium flash".Comment: To appear in A&

Atmospheric parameters and pulsational properties for a sample of δ\delta\,Sct, γ\gamma\,Dor, and hybrid {\it Kepler} targets

We report spectroscopic observations for 19 $\delta$\,Sct candidates observed by the {\it Kepler} satellite both in long and short cadence mode. For all these stars, by using spectral synthesis, we derive the effective temperature, the surface gravity and the projected rotational velocity. An equivalent spectral type classification has been also performed for all stars in the sample. These determinations are fundamental for modelling the frequency spectra that will be extracted from the {\it Kepler} data for asteroseismic inference. For all the 19 stars, we present also periodograms obtained from {\it Kepler} data. We find that all stars show peaks in both low- ($\gamma$\,Dor; g mode) and high-frequency ($\delta$\,Sct; p mode) regions. Using the amplitudes and considering 5\,c/d as a boundary frequency, we classified 3 stars as pure $\gamma$\,Dor, 4 as $\gamma$\,Dor\,-\,$\delta$\ hybrid, Sct, 5 as $\delta$\,Sct\,-\,$\gamma$\,Dor hybrid, and 6 as pure $\delta$\,Sct. The only exception is the star KIC\,05296877 which we suggest could be a binary.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, MNRAS main journa

The Evolutionary Status of Be Stars: Results from a Photometric Study of Southern Open Clusters

Be stars are a class of rapidly rotating B stars with circumstellar disks that cause Balmer and other line emission. There are three possible reasons for the rapid rotation of Be stars: they may have been born as rapid rotators, spun up by binary mass transfer, or spun up during the main-sequence (MS) evolution of B stars. To test the various formation scenarios, we have conducted a photometric survey of 55 open clusters in the southern sky. Of these, five clusters are probably not physically associated groups and our results for two other clusters are not reliable, but we identify 52 definite Be stars and an additional 129 Be candidates in the remaining clusters. We use our results to examine the age and evolutionary dependence of the Be phenomenon. We find an overall increase in the fraction of Be stars with age until 100 Myr, and Be stars are most common among the brightest, most massive B-type stars above the zero-age MS (ZAMS). We show that a spin-up phase at the terminal-age MS (TAMS) cannot produce the observed distribution of Be stars, but up to 73% of the Be stars detected may have been spun-up by binary mass transfer. Most of the remaining Be stars were likely rapid rotators at birth. Previous studies have suggested that low metallicity and high cluster density may also favor Be star formation. Our results indicate a possible increase in the fraction of Be stars with increasing cluster distance from the Galactic center (in environments of decreasing metallicity). However, the trend is not significant and could be ruled out due to the intrinsic scatter in our data. We also find no relationship between the fraction of Be stars and cluster density.Comment: 44 pages, accepted by ApJS (minor changes to introduction, expanded conclusions per referee comments

First Inverse Moment of a Generalized Quadratic Form

In this paper an approximate expression for the first inverse moment of (1 \Gamma ) P t k=1 t\Gammak ' k ' T k + t (1 \Gamma )P 0\Gamma1 0 , where ' k is a Gaussian stationary vector process is derived. This generalized quadratic form is the estimate of the information matrix when using the Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm with forgetting factor. This estimator is commonly used when estimating parameters in time-varying linear stochastic systems. Key words Recursive Least Squares Estimation, Exponential Forgetting, Generalized Quadratic Forms, Inverse Moments 1 Introduction Consider the time-varying stochastic system y t = ` T t ' t + e t ; t 2 Z; (1) where e t is a white noise sequence, ' t is a p-dimensional stochastic vector process and ` t is an unknown time-varying function. If ` t is slowly time-varying the most commonly used way to estimate it is to use the Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm with exponential forgetting, see e.g. Ljung and Soderstrom..

First inverse moment of a generalized quadratic form

In this paper an approximate expression for the first inverse moment of where [phi]k is a Gaussian stationary vector process is derived. This generalized quadratic form is the estimate of the information matrix when using the Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm with forgetting factor. This estimator is commonly used when estimating parameters in time-varying linear stochastic systems.Recursive least-squares estimation Exponential forgetting Generalized quadratic forms Inverse moments

On the Optimal Choice of the Forgetting Factor in the Recursive Least Squares Estimator

The Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm with forgetting factor is commonly used when estimating parameters in time-varying linear stochastic systems. The value of the forgetting factor is a trade-off between bias and variance of the parameter estimate. In this paper we discuss how the Mean Square Errors (MSE) for the parameter estimates depend on the timevariations and on the forgetting factor when the time-varying parameters can be described by continuous functions. Hence, this give us a possibility to choose an optimal forgetting factor in the RLS algorithm. We also discuss the similarities between RLS with forgetting factor and kernel estimation with non-symmetric kernels. Key words Recursive Least Squares Estimation, Exponential Forgetting, Time-varying Stochastic Systems, Kernel Estimation 1 Introduction When describing dynamic technical, physical or biological systems one of the most commonly used models is the time-varying regression model, y t = ` T t ' t + e t (1) wh..

Adaptive Predictive Control for Time-Varying Stochastic Systems

In this paper we present an optimal adaptive predictive controller (APC) for general linear time-varying stochastic systems. It is shown that the controller in principal can be explicitely computed for arbitrarily prediction horizons. However, for larger predictions horizons than say 3-4, the expression will be quite complicated, due to the need to compute higher order moments of stochastic vectors. We show the explicit expression for the one- and two-steps controller. We also discuss the possibility to use the APC as a suboptimal solution to the dual control problem. Key words Adaptive Predictive Control, Time-Varying Stochastic Systems, Higher Order Moments, Suboptimal Control 1 Background and Introduction Optimal control of time-varying systems is in general a difficult task, which simultaneously must take the character of the unknown timevaration of the parameters and the fullfillment of the control action, e.g. optimization of some loss function, into account. The optimal contr..