209 research outputs found
Chaotic pulsations in variable stars with harmonic mode coupling
Some variable stars show multi-periodic behaviour with, among others, peaks in their power spectra at harmonically spaced frequencies with ratios 1:2:4. Such modes are nonlinearly coupled by two second-harmonic interactions and their amplitude equations are shown by a Painlevé analysis to be nonintegrable in a hamiltonian sense. Chaotic phenomena are thus expected, especially when other modes and dissipation are included. An example of stars to which this might apply is G191–16 among the variable white dwarfs
Asteroseismology
Asteroseismology is the determination of the interior structures of stars by
using their oscillations as seismic waves. Simple explanations of the
astrophysical background and some basic theoretical considerations needed in
this rapidly evolving field are followed by introductions to the most important
concepts and methods on the basis of example. Previous and potential
applications of asteroseismology are reviewed and future trends are attempted
to be foreseen.Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures, to appear in: "Planets, Stars and Stellar
Systems", eds. T. D. Oswalt et al., Springer Verla
Timing by Stellar Pulsations as an Exoplanet Discovery Method
The stable oscillations of pulsating stars can serve as accurate timepieces,
which may be monitored for the influence of exoplanets. An external companion
gravitationally tugs the host star, causing periodic changes in pulsation
arrival times. This method is most sensitive to detecting substellar companions
around the hottest pulsating stars, especially compact remnants like white
dwarfs and hot subdwarfs, as well as delta Scuti variables (A stars). However,
it is applicable to any pulsating star with sufficiently stable oscillations.
Care must be taken to ensure that the changes in pulsation arrival times are
not caused by intrinsic stellar variability; an external, light-travel-time
effect from an exoplanet identically affects all pulsation modes. With more
long-baseline photometric campaigns coming online, this method is yielding new
detections of substellar companions.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures: Invited review to appear in 'Handbook of
Exoplanets,' Springer Reference Works, edited by Hans J. Deeg and Juan
Antonio Belmont
The Age of the Galactic Disk
I review different methods devised to derive the age of the Galactic Disk,
namely the Radio-active Decay (RD), the Cool White Dwarf Luminosity Function
(CWDLF), old opne clusters (OOC) and the Color Magnitude Diagram (CMD) of the
stars in the solar vicinity. I argue that the disk is likely to be 8-10 Gyr
old. Since the bulk of globulars has an age around 13 Gyr, the possibility
emerges that the Galaxy experienced a minimum of Star Formation at the end of
the halo/bulge formation. This minimum might reflect the time at which the
Galaxy started to acquire material to form the disk inside-out.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure, invited review, in "The chemical evolution of the
Milky Way : Stars vs Clusters, Vulcano (Italy), 20-24 September 199
Evolutionary and pulsational properties of white dwarf stars
Abridged. White dwarf stars are the final evolutionary stage of the vast
majority of stars, including our Sun. The study of white dwarfs has potential
applications to different fields of astrophysics. In particular, they can be
used as independent reliable cosmic clocks, and can also provide valuable
information about the fundamental parameters of a wide variety of stellar
populations, like our Galaxy and open and globular clusters. In addition, the
high densities and temperatures characterizing white dwarfs allow to use these
stars as cosmic laboratories for studying physical processes under extreme
conditions that cannot be achieved in terrestrial laboratories. They can be
used to constrain fundamental properties of elementary particles such as axions
and neutrinos, and to study problems related to the variation of fundamental
constants.
In this work, we review the essentials of the physics of white dwarf stars.
Special emphasis is placed on the physical processes that lead to the formation
of white dwarfs as well as on the different energy sources and processes
responsible for chemical abundance changes that occur along their evolution.
Moreover, in the course of their lives, white dwarfs cross different
pulsational instability strips. The existence of these instability strips
provides astronomers with an unique opportunity to peer into their internal
structure that would otherwise remain hidden from observers. We will show that
this allows to measure with unprecedented precision the stellar masses and to
infer their envelope thicknesses, to probe the core chemical stratification,
and to detect rotation rates and magnetic fields. Consequently, in this work,
we also review the pulsational properties of white dwarfs and the most recent
applications of white dwarf asteroseismology.Comment: 85 pages, 28 figures. To be published in The Astronomy and
Astrophysics Revie
Effects of mineral soil and forest floor on the regeneration of pedunculate oak, beech and red oak
Early regeneration is a critical life stage that affects the future species composition of forests. Knowledge about regeneration success under different environmental conditions allows better understanding of forest dynamics. We studied the effects of seedbed conditions on the establishment and performance of seedlings of pedunculate oak, beech and red oak. In 50 plots of a tree-diversity oriented research platform in mature forests in northern Belgium (TREEWEB), we installed a field experiment with three treatments (potting soil, mineral soil, mineral soil + forest floor), in which we sowed seeds of each species. We monitored early establishment and survival, height, root and shoot biomass of the seedlings after two growing seasons. Mineral soil negatively affected seedling establishment and performance relative to the potting soil. The negative soil effects did not vary with measured abiotic soil properties. In general, the forest floor did not deteriorate or mitigate the soil effects, and only for root biomass did the forest floor partly compensate the negative soil effects. Forest floor effects did not vary with the measured forest floor properties. In the studied forests, creating bare soil was not enough to promote regeneration; improving soil properties might be important for the success of natural regeneration.Fil: De Groote, Stefanie R. E.. University of Ghent; BĂ©lgicaFil: Vanhellemont, Margot. University of Ghent; BĂ©lgicaFil: Baeten, Lander. University of Ghent; BĂ©lgicaFil: CarĂłn, MarĂa Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta; ArgentinaFil: Martel, An. University of Ghent; BĂ©lgicaFil: Bonte, Dries. University of Ghent; BĂ©lgicaFil: Lens, Luc. University of Ghent; BĂ©lgicaFil: Verheyen, Kris. University of Ghent; BĂ©lgic
Normal modes and discovery of high-order cross-frequencies in the DBV white dwarf GD 358
We present a detailed mode identification performed on the 1994 Whole Earth Telescope (WET) run on GD 358. The results are compared with that obtained for the same star from the 1990 WET data. The two temporal spectra show very few qualitative differences, although amplitude changes are seen in most modes, including the disappearance of the mode identified as k=14 in the 1990 data. The excellent coverage and signal-to-noise ratio obtained during the 1994 run lead to the secure identification of combination frequencies up to fourth order, i.e. peaks that are sums or differences of up to four parent frequencies, including a virtually complete set of second-order frequencies, as expected from harmonic distortion. We show how the third-order frequencies are expected to affect the triplet structure of the normal modes by back-interacting with them. Finally, a search for â„“=2 modes was unsuccessful, not verifying the suspicion that such modes had been uncovered in the 1990 data set
Deviations from a uniform period spacing of gravity modes in a massive star
The life of a star is dominantly determined by the physical processes in the stellar interior. Unfortunately, we still have a poor understanding of how the stellar gas mixes near the stellar core, preventing precise predictions of stellar evolution. The unknown nature of the mixing processes as well as the extent of the central mixed region is particularly problematic for massive stars. Oscillations in stars with masses a few times that of the Sun offer a unique opportunity to disentangle the nature of various mixing processes, through the distinct signature they leave on period spacings in the gravity mode spectrum. Here we report the detection of numerous gravity modes in a young star with a mass of about seven solar masses. The mean period spacing allows us to estimate the extent of the convective core, and the clear periodic deviation from the mean constrains the location of the chemical transition zone to be at about 10 per cent of the radius and rules out a clear-cut profile.Peer reviewe
DA white dwarfs from the LSS-GAC survey DR1: the preliminary luminosity and mass functions and formation rate
Modern large-scale surveys have allowed the identification of large numbers
of white dwarfs. However, these surveys are subject to complicated target
selection algorithms, which make it almost impossible to quantify to what
extent the observational biases affect the observed populations. The LAMOST
(Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope) Spectroscopic
Survey of the Galactic anti-center (LSS-GAC) follows a well-defined set of
criteria for selecting targets for observations. This advantage over previous
surveys has been fully exploited here to identify a small yet
well-characterised magnitude-limited sample of hydrogen-rich (DA) white dwarfs.
We derive preliminary LSS-GAC DA white dwarf luminosity and mass functions. The
space density and average formation rate of DA white dwarfs we derive are
0.83+/-0.16 x 10^{-3} pc^{-3} and 5.42 +/- 0.08 x 10^{-13} pc^{-3} yr^{-1},
respectively. Additionally, using an existing Monte Carlo population synthesis
code we simulate the population of single DA white dwarfs in the Galactic
anti-center, under various assumptions. The synthetic populations are passed
through the LSS-GAC selection criteria, taking into account all possible
observational biases. This allows us to perform a meaningful comparison of the
observed and simulated distributions. We find that the LSS-GAC set of criteria
is highly efficient in selecting white dwarfs for spectroscopic observations
(80-85 per cent) and that, overall, our simulations reproduce well the observed
luminosity function. However, they fail at reproducing an excess of massive
white dwarfs present in the observed mass function. A plausible explanation for
this is that a sizable fraction of massive white dwarfs in the Galaxy are the
product of white dwarf-white dwarf mergers.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures and 5 tables. Accepted for publication by MNRA
Whole Earth Telescope Observations of the Helium Interacting Binary PG 1346+082 (CR Bootis)
We present our analysis of 240 hr of white-light, high-speed photometry of the dwarf nova-like helium variable PG 1346+082 (CR Boo). We identify two frequencies in the low-state power spectrum, at 679.670 ± 0.004 μHz and 669.887 ± 0.008 μHz. The 679.670 μHz variation is coherent over at least a 2 week time span, the first demonstration of a phase-coherent photometric variation in any dwarf nova-like interacting binary white dwarf system. The high-state power spectrum contains a complex fundamental with a frequency similar, but not identical, to the low-state spectrum, and a series of harmonics not detected in low state. We also uncover an unexpected dependence of the high-frequency power\u27s amplitude and frequency structure on overall system magnitude. We discuss these findings in light of the general AM CVn system model, particularly the implications of the high-order harmonics on future studies of disk structure, mass transfer, and disk viscosity
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