Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Pulsation Variables in the AF stars of the Case Low-Dispersion Survey

AbstractThe AF stars are those of spectral types A and F that have been discovered on objective-prism plates taken with the Burrell Schmidt in the Case Low-Dispersion Northern Sky Survey (Pesch and Sanduleak, 1983). In SA 57, this survey is complete to V = 16.5. In this field and also in the Lick Astrograph RR Lyrae survey field RR 7 (in the anticenter) the AF stars comprise (a) blue horizontal branch stars and RR Lyrae stars of the halo and (b) stars which have the higher surface gravities of main sequence stars. The two groups can be separated primarily by their differing Balmer jumps and Balmer line-widths. The latter group (which may well include blue stragglers of both Pop I and Pop II) extends some 10 kpc above the galactic plane and shows a wide range of metallicity. Photoelectric photometry of this AF star sample has allowed the detection field RR Lyrae stars of lower-amplitudes than could have been found by conventional blinking techniques; this has led to a significant increase in the number of RR Lyrae stars that are known in SA 57 and RR 7. The cooler main sequence and/or blue straggler AF stars lie in the zone of pulsational instability and one higher-amplitude δ-Scuti star was detected in field RR 7. It is suggested that these AF stars provide a good sample for studying the incidence of pulsation in the population of older stars that extends beyond the thin disk.</jats:p

Searching For Emission-Line Galaxies

Survey methods for finding emission-line galaxies are reviewed. Observational selection effects are investigated by comparing different surveys and the limitations of the different techniques are discussed. The advantages of Ha surveys for finding low luminosity galaxies and those with low excitation emission spectra are emphasized.</jats:p

Stars in the Galactic Halo

The field star halo is comprised of those field stars that are like the stars found in the halo globular clusters. We discuss the halo properties — in particular whether Vrot is a function of z. An analysis of recent surveys for blue horizontal branch stars is described; the halo that is defined by these stars is composite and contains both a spherical and flat component.</jats:p

Young Stars far from the Galactic Plane: Runaways from Clusters

AbstractQuite recently, a significant number of OB stars far from the galactic plane have been found, situated at z- distances ranging from several hundreds of pc to several kpc. The short lifetimes of these stars pose problems for their interpretation in terms of the standard picture of star formation. Different mechanisms have been put forward to explain the existence of these stars, either within the conventional view, or postulating star formation in the galactic halo itself. These mechanisms range from arguing that they are misidentified evolved or abnormal stars, to postulating powerful ejection mechanisms for young disk stars; in situ formation also admits several variants. We have collected from the literature a list of young stars far from the plane, for which the evidence of youth seems convincing. We discuss two possible formation mechanisms for these stars: ejection from the plane as the result of dynamical evolution of small clusters (Poveda et al. 1967) and in situ formation, via induced shocks created by spiral density waves (Martos et al. 1999). We compute galactic orbits for these stars, and identify the stars that could be explained by one or the other mechanism. We find that about 90 percent of the stars can be accounted for by the cluster ejection mechanism, that is, they can be regarded as runaway stars in the galactic halo.</jats:p

Planetary Nebulae and the Galactic Bulge

Fifteen new PN have been discovered in the region of Baade's Windows using an objective prism technique. Absolute spectrophotometry, excitation classes, radii and radial velocities have been obtained. Radial velocities were also measured for eight other PN in this region. After correction for solar motion and the circular velocity at the sun, the radial velocities of bulge PN (Vc) with |b| &lt; 5°.5 show good evidence for a rotation of the bulge. If Vc=α + βΔℓ then, </jats:p

V 4049 SGR

V 4049 Sgr was detected by the authors as a possible symbiotic star on Curtis Schmidt objective prism plates. This star is Nova Sgr 1978 and was first discovered by Stenholm and Lindstrom. When observed in 1979 With SIT specgrograph on CTIO 4 m telescope the outstanding features were the presence of very strong lines of [FeVII] chiefly at 6085 A where its flux relative to H α is 1.6. Details have been published in Pub. astr. Soc. Pacific, 93, 470 (1981).</jats:p