493 research outputs found
Amplitude Variations in Pulsating Yellow Supergiants
It was recently discovered that the amplitudes of pulsating red giants and
supergiants vary significantly on time scales of 20-30 pulsation periods. Here,
we analyze the amplitude variability in 29 pulsating yellow supergiants (5 RVa,
4 RVb, 9 SRd, 7 long-period Cepheid, and 4 yellow hypergiant stars), using
visual observations from the AAVSO International Database, and Fourier and
wavelet analysis using the AAVSO's VSTAR package. We find that these stars vary
in amplitude by factors of up to 10 or more (but more typically 3-5), on a mean
time scale (L) of 33 +/- 4 pulsation periods (P). Each of the five sub-types
shows this same behavior, which is very similar to that of the pulsating red
giants, for which the median L/P was 31. For the RVb stars, the lengths of the
cycles of amplitude variability are the same as the long secondary periods, to
within the uncertainty of each.Comment: To be submitted to JAAVS
Forty Years of Linking Variable Star Research with Education
In this review, I reflect on four decades of my experience in linking
astronomy research and education by supervising variable-star research projects
by undergraduates, and by outstanding senior high school students. I describe
the evolution of my experience, the students I have supervised, the nature of
their projects, the educational contexts of the projects, the need for "best
practices", the journals in which we publish, and the special role of the
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). I then describe our
recent research on pulsating red giants and related objects, including three
astrophysical mysteries that we have uncovered. Finally, I suggest how my
projects might be scaled up or extended by others who supervise student
research.Comment: Submitted to the proceedings of the conference "Remote Telescopes,
Student Research, and Education
Long Secondary Periods in Pulsating Red Giants: A Century of Investigation
Red giants are unstable to radial pulsation. About a third of them also show
a long secondary period, 5 to 10 times the pulsation period. The long secondary
periods were recently ascribed to eclipses of the red giant by a low-mass
dust-enshrouded companion. Long secondary periods have been known for over a
century. In this paper, I use primarily American Association of Variable Star
Observers visual and photoelectric observations to look for evidence of long
secondary periods in 103 red giant stars listed by Nancy Houk in 1963 as having
long secondary periods, based mostly on photographic photometry. I have
determined long secondary periods in 37 stars, and upper limits (some of them
not very stringent) in 25. In the former, the ratio of long secondary period to
pulsation period peaks strongly at 10, which suggests that most of the stars
are pulsating in the first overtone. The loong secondary periods are consistent
with those o0f Houk in 33 of the 37 stars. I have identified 16 stars as
bimodal pulsaters;their period ratios are consistent with previous
observational and theoretical results. For 14 stars,the periods in the General
Catalogue of Variable Stars are incorrect or absent
Methodological Guidelines for Advertising Research
In this article, highly experienced advertising academics and advertising research consultants John R. Rossiter and Larry Percy present and discuss what they believe to be the seven most important methodological guidelines that need to be implemented to improve the practice of advertising research. Their focus is on methodology, defined as first choosing a suitable theoretical framework to guide the research study and then identifying the advertising responses that need to be studied. Measurement of those responses is covered elsewhere in this special issue in the article by Bergkvist and Langner. Most of the frameworks are derived from the authors\u27 own published work, although other frameworks are noted where appropriate
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