An observer's view on the future of asteroseismology

Scientific research is a continuous process, and the speed of future progress can be estimated by the pace of finding explanations for previous research questions. In this observers based view of stellar pulsation and asteroseismology, we start with the earliest observations of variable stars and the techniques used to observe them. The earliest variable stars were large amplitude, radial pulsators but were followed by other classes of pulsating stars. As the field matured, we outline some cornerstones of research into pulsating star research with an emphasis on changes in observational techniques. Improvements from photographs, to photometry, CCDs, and space telescopes allowed researchers to separate out pulsating stars from other stars with light variations, recognize radial and nonradial pulsation courtesy of increased measurement precision, and then use nonradial pulsations to look inside the stars, which cannot be done any other way. We follow several highlighted problems to show that even with excellent space data, there still may not be quick theoretical explanations. As the result of technical changes, the structure of international organizations devoted to pulsating stars has changed, and an increasing number of conferences specialized to space missions or themes are held. Although there are still many unsolved problems, such as mode identification in non-asymptotic pulsating stars, the large amount of data with unprecedented precision provided by space missions (MOST, CoRoT, Kepler) and upcoming missions allow us to use asteroseismology to its full potential. However, the enormous flow of data will require new techniques to extract the science before the next missions. The future of asteroseismology will be successful if we learn from the past and improve with improved techniques, space missions, and a properly educated new generation.Comment: Review appeared in "Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science" special issue Future of Asteroseismolog

GD 99 - an unusual, rarely observed DAV white dwarf

New observations of GD 99 are analysed. The unusual pulsation behaviour, showing both long and short periods, has been confirmed. All the available periods show a grouping of short and long period modes with roughly regular spacing. If we interpret the groups separately, a binary nature can be a possible explanation as in the similar cases of WD 2350-0054 and G29-38.Comment: 2 pages, 1 eps figure; has been accepted for publication in Communications in Asteroseismology (Vol. 150, 2007), Proceedings of the Vienna Workshop on the Future of Asteroseismolog

Amplitude Modulation in the ZZ Ceti Star GD 244

Previous studies of GD 244 revealed seven pulsation frequencies (two doublets and three single periods) in the light variations of the star. The data obtained at McDonald Observatory between 2003 and 2006, and our additional measurements in 2006 and 2007 at Konkoly Observatory, allow the investigation of the long-term pulsational behaviour of GD 244. We found that the 307.1 s period component of one of the doublets show long-term, periodic amplitude modulation with a time scale of ~740 days. Possible explanations are that nonlinear resonant mode coupling is operating among the rotationally split frequency components, or two modes, unresolved in the yearly data are excited at ~307.1 s. This is the first time that such long-term periodic amplitude modulation is published on a ZZ Ceti star.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, appeared in ASP Conference Series vol. 493, 2015 (eds.: P. Dufour, P. Bergeron, G. Fontaine, 19th European Workshop on White Dwarfs, Montreal, Canada

Unexpected series of regular frequency spacing of delta Scuti stars in the non-asymptotic regime -- I. The methodology

A sequence search method was developed to search regular frequency spacing in delta Scuti stars by visual inspection and algorithmic search. We searched for sequences of quasi-equally spaced frequencies, containing at least four members per sequence, in 90 delta Scuti stars observed by CoRoT. We found an unexpectedly large number of independent series of regular frequency spacing in 77 delta Scuti stars (from 1 to 8 sequences) in the non-asymptotic regime. We introduce the sequence search method presenting the sequences and echelle diagram of CoRoT 102675756 and the structure of the algorithmic search. Four sequences (echelle ridges) were found in the 5-21 d^{-1} region, where the pairs of the sequences are shifted (between 0.5-0.59 d^{-1}) by twice the value of the estimated rotational splitting frequency (0.269 d^{-1}). The general conclusions for the whole sample are also presented in this paper. The statistics of the spacings derived by the sequence search method, by FT and that of the shifts are also compared. In many stars, more than one almost equally valid spacing appeared. The model frequencies of FG Vir and their rotationally split components were used to reveal a possible explanation that one spacing is the large separation, while the other is a sum of the large separation and the rotational frequency. In CoRoT 102675756, the two spacings (2.249 and 1.977 d^{-1}) agree better with the sum of a possible 1.710 d^{-1} large separation and two or one times, respectively, the value of the rotational frequency.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Unexpected series of regular frequency spacing of delta Scuti stars in the non-asymptotic regime -- II. Sample -- echelle diagrams and rotation

A sequence search method was developed for searching for regular frequency spacing in delta Scuti stars by visual inspection and algorithmic search. The sample contains 90 delta Scuti stars observed by CoRoT. An example is given to represent the visual inspection. The algorithm (SSA) is described in detail. The data treatment of the CoRoT light curves, the criteria for frequency filtering and the spacings derived by two methods (three approaches: VI, SSA and FT) are given for each target. Echelle diagrams are presented for 77 targets, for which at least one sequence of regular spacing was identified. Comparing the spacing and the shifts between pairs of echelle ridges revealed that at least one pair of echelle ridges is shifted to midway between the spacing for 22 stars. The estimated rotational frequencies compared to the shifts revealed rotationally split doublets, triplets and multiplets not only for single frequencies, but for the complete echelle ridges in 31 delta Scuti stars. Using several possible assumptions for the origin of the spacings, we derived the large separation ($\Delta\nu$), which are distributed along the mean density versus large separations relation derived from stellar models Suarez 2014.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, 9 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ