276 research outputs found
On Be Star Candidates and Possible Blue Pre-Main Sequence Objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Recently the OGLE experiment has provided accurate light curves and colours
for about 2 millions stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We have examined this
database for its content of Be stars, applying some selection criteria, and we
have found a sample of 1000 candidates. Some of these stars show
beautiful light curves with amazing variations never observed in any Galactic
variable. We find outbursts in 13% of the sample (Type-1 stars), high and low
states in 15%, periodic variations in 7%, and the usual variations seen in
Galactic Be stars in 65% of the cases. The Galactic counterparts of Type-1
objects could be the outbursting Be stars found by Hubert & Floquet (1998)
after the analysis of Hipparcos photometry. We discuss the possibility that
Type-1 stars could correspond to Be stars with accreting white dwarf companions
or alternatively, blue pre-main sequence stars surrounded by thermally unstable
accretion disks. We provide coordinates and basic photometric information for
these stars and some examples of light curves.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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