HS Hya about to turn off its eclipses

Aims: We aim to perform the first long-term analysis of the system HS Hya. Methods: We performed an analysis of the long-term evolution of the light curves of the detached eclipsing system HS Hya. Collecting all available photometric data since its discovery, the light curves were analyzed with a special focus on the evolution of system's inclination. Results: We find that the system undergoes a rapid change of inclination. Since its discovery until today the system's inclination changed by more than 15 deg. The shape of the light curve changes, and now the eclipses are almost undetectable. The third distant component of the system is causing the precession of the close orbit, and the nodal period is about 631 yr. Conclusions: New precise observations are desperately needed, preferably this year, because the amplitude of variations is decreasing rapidly every year. We know only 10 such systems on the whole sky at present.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, published in 2012A&A...542L..23

First detailed analysis of multiple system V2083 Cyg

Main aim of this paper is the first detailed analysis of multiple system V2083 Cyg and to reveal its basic physical properties. The system was studied by method of the light and radial velocity curves analysis, together with the interferometric data of the visual pair obtained during a last century. There was found that the close subsystem contains two very similar stars of spectral type A7-8. Moreover, the third body is orbiting around this pair with period of about 177 years. Due to the discrepancy of total mass as derived from two methods, there arises that the third body is maybe also a binary, or some object with lower luminosity but higher mass than normal main-sequence star. Another explanation is that the Hipparcos value of parallax is incorrect and the system is much closer to the Sun.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, published in 2012MNRAS.421.1196

Core properties of alpha Cen A using asteroseismology

A set of long and nearly continuous observations of alpha Centauri A should allow us to derive an accurate set of asteroseismic constraints to compare to models, and make inferences on the internal structure of our closest stellar neighbour. We intend to improve the knowledge of the interior of alpha Centauri A by determining the nature of its core. We combined the radial velocity time series obtained in May 2001 with three spectrographs in Chile and Australia: CORALIE, UVES, and UCLES. The resulting combined time series has a length of 12.45 days and contains over 10,000 data points and allows to greatly reduce the daily alias peaks in the power spectral window. We detected 44 frequencies that are in good overall agreement with previous studies, and found that 14 of these show possible rotational splittings. New values for the large and small separations have been derived. A comparison with stellar models indicates that the asteroseismic constraints determined in this study allows us to set an upper limit to the amount of convective-core overshooting needed to model stars of mass and metallicity similar to those of alpha Cen A.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures, A&A accepte

Studies of multiple stellar systems - III. Modulation of orbital elements in the triple-lined system HD 109648

The triple-lined spectroscopic triple system HD 109648 has one of the shortest periods known for the outer orbit in a late-type triple, 120.5 days, and the ratio between the periods of the outer and inner orbits is small, 22:1. With such extreme values, this system should show orbital element variations over a timescale of about a decade. We have monitored the radial velocities of HD 109648 with the CfA Digital Speedometers for eight years, and have found evidence for modulation of some orbital elements. While we see no definite evidence for modulation of the inner binary eccentricity, we clearly observe variations in the inner and outer longitudes of periastron, as well as in the radial velocity amplitudes of the three components. The observational results, combined with numerical simulations, allow us to put constraints on the orientation of the orbits.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted by MNRA

Limits on the primordial stellar multiplicity

Most stars - especially young stars - are observed to be in multiple systems. Dynamical evolution is unable to pair stars efficiently, which leads to the conclusion that star-forming cores must usually fragment into \geq 2 stars. However, the dynamical decay of systems with \geq 3 or 4 stars would result in a large single-star population that is not seen in the young stellar population. Additionally, ejections would produce a significant population of hard binaries that are not observed. This leads to a strong constraint on star formation theories that cores must typically produce only 2 or 3 stars. This conclusion is in sharp disagreement with the results of currently available numerical simulations that follow the fragmentation of molecular cores and typically predict the formation of 5--10 seeds per core. In addition, open cluster remnants may account for the majority of observed highly hierarchical higher-order multiple systems in the field.Comment: A&A in press, 5 pages (no figures

The Zeta Herculis binary system revisited. Calibration and seismology

We have revisited the calibration of the visual binary system Zeta Herculis with the goal to give the seismological properties of the G0 IV sub-giant Zeta Her A. We have used the most recent physical and observational data. For the age we have obtained 3387 Myr, for the masses respectively 1.45 and 0.98 solar mass, for the initial helium mass fraction 0.243, for the initial mass ratio of heavy elements to hydrogen 0.0269 and for the mixing-length parameters respectively 0.92 and 0.90 using the Canuto & Mazitelli (1991, 1992) convection theory. Our results do not exclude that Zeta Her A is itself a binary sub-system; the mass of the hypothetical unseen companion would be smaller than 0.05 solar mass. The adiabatic oscillation spectrum of Zeta Her A is found to be a complicated superposition of acoustic and gravity modes; some of them have a dual character. This greatly complicates the classification of the non-radial modes. The echelle diagram used by the observers to extract the frequencies will work for ell=0, 2, 3. The large difference is found to be of the order of 42 mu Hz, in agreement with the Martic et al. (2001) seismic observations.Comment: 12 pages, A&A in pres

Interferometric Observations of the Hierarchical Triple System Algol

Algol is a triple stellar system consisting of a close semidetached binary orbited by a third object. Due to the disputed spatial orientation of the close pair, the third body perturbation of this pair is a subject of much research. In this study, we determine the spatial orientation of the close pair orbital plane using the CHARA Array, a six-element optical/IR interferometer located on Mount Wilson, and state-of-the-art e-EVN interferometric techniques. We find that the longitude of the line of nodes for the close pair is \Omega_1=48\degr\pm2\degr and the mutual inclination of the orbital planes of the close and the wide pairs is 95\degr\pm3\degr. This latter value differs by 5\degr from the formerly known 100\degr which would imply a very fast inclination variation of the system, not borne out by the photometric observations. We also investigated the dynamics of the system with numerical integration of the equations of motions using our result as an initial condition. We found large variations in the inclination of the close pair (its amplitude \sim 170\degr) with a period of about 20 millennia. This result is in good agreement with the photometrically observed change of amplitude in Algol's primary minimum.Comment: ApJ, in press. This is the accepted version; will be changed with the final version later (minor language corrections

GAIA: Composition, Formation and Evolution of the Galaxy

The GAIA astrometric mission has recently been approved as one of the next two `cornerstones' of ESA's science programme, with a launch date target of not later than mid-2012. GAIA will provide positional and radial velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about one billion stars throughout our Galaxy (and into the Local Group), amounting to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar population. GAIA's main scientific goal is to clarify the origin and history of our Galaxy, from a quantitative census of the stellar populations. It will advance questions such as when the stars in our Galaxy formed, when and how it was assembled, and its distribution of dark matter. The survey aims for completeness to V=20 mag, with accuracies of about 10 microarcsec at 15 mag. Combined with astrophysical information for each star, provided by on-board multi-colour photometry and (limited) spectroscopy, these data will have the precision necessary to quantify the early formation, and subsequent dynamical, chemical and star formation evolution of our Galaxy. Additional products include detection and orbital classification of tens of thousands of extra-Solar planetary systems, and a comprehensive survey of some 10^5-10^6 minor bodies in our Solar System, through galaxies in the nearby Universe, to some 500,000 distant quasars. It will provide a number of stringent new tests of general relativity and cosmology. The complete satellite system was evaluated as part of a detailed technology study, including a detailed payload design, corresponding accuracy assesments, and results from a prototype data reduction development.Comment: Accepted by A&A: 25 pages, 8 figure

Analysis of alpha Centauri AB including seismic constraints

Detailed models of alpha Cen A and B based on new seismological data for alpha Cen B by Carrier & Bourban (2003) have been computed using the Geneva evolution code including atomic diffusion. Taking into account the numerous observational constraints now available for the alpha Cen system, we find a stellar model which is in good agreement with the astrometric, photometric, spectroscopic and asteroseismic data. The global parameters of the alpha Cen system are now firmly constrained to an age of t=6.52+-0.30 Gyr, an initial helium mass fraction Y_i=0.275+-0.010 and an initial metallicity (Z/X)_i=0.0434+-0.0020. Thanks to these numerous observational constraints, we confirm that the mixing-length parameter alpha of the B component is larger than the one of the A component, as already suggested by many authors (Noels et al. 1991, Fernandes & Neuforge 1995 and Guenther & Demarque 2000): alpha_B is about 8% larger than alpha_A (alpha_A=1.83+-0.10 and alpha_B=1.97+-0.10). Moreover, we show that asteroseismic measurements enable to determine the radii of both stars with a very high precision (errors smaller than 0.3%). The radii deduced from seismological data are compatible with the new interferometric results of Kervella et al. (2003) even if they are slightly larger than the interferometric radii (differences smaller than 1%).Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&

The Effective Fragment Molecular Orbital Method for Fragments Connected by Covalent Bonds

We extend the effective fragment molecular orbital method (EFMO) into treating fragments connected by covalent bonds. The accuracy of EFMO is compared to FMO and conventional ab initio electronic structure methods for polypeptides including proteins. Errors in energy for RHF and MP2 are within 2 kcal/mol for neutral polypeptides and 6 kcal/mol for charged polypeptides similar to FMO but obtained two to five times faster. For proteins, the errors are also within a few kcal/mol of the FMO results. We developed both the RHF and MP2 gradient for EFMO. Compared to ab initio, the EFMO optimized structures had an RMSD of 0.40 and 0.44 {\AA} for RHF and MP2, respectively.Comment: Revised manuscrip