Studies of Variability in Proto-Planetary Nebulae: II. Light and Velocity Curve Analyses of Iras 22272+5435 and 22223+4327

We have carried out a detailed observational study of the light, color, and velocity variations of two bright, carbon-rich proto-planetary nebulae, IRAS 22223+4327 and 22272+5435. The light curves are based upon our observations from 1994 to 2011, together with published data by Arkhipova and collaborators. They each display four significant periods, with primary periods for IRAS 22223+4327 and 22272+5435 being 90 and 132 days, respectively. For each of them, the ratio of secondary to primary period is 0.95, a value much different from that found in Cepheids, but which may be characteristic of post-AGB stars. Fewer significant periods are found in the smaller radial velocity data sets, but they agree with those of the light curves. The color curves generally mimic the light curves, with the objects reddest when faintest. A comparison in seasons when there exist contemporaneous light, color, and velocity curves reveals that the light and color curves are in phase, while the radial velocity curves are 0.25 out of phase with the light curves. Thus they differ from what is seen in Cepheids, in which the radial velocity curve is 0.50 P out of phase with the light curve. Comparison of the observed periods and amplitudes with those of post-AGB pulsation models shows poor agreement, especially for the periods, which are much longer than predicted. These observational data, particularly the contemporaneous light, color, and velocity curves, provide an excellent benchmark for new pulsation models of cool stars in the post-AGB, proto-planetary nebula phase.Comment: 15 Figures plus Erratu

Cerium: the lithium substitute in post-AGB stars

In this letter we present an alternative identification for the line detected in the spectra of s-process enriched low-mass post-AGB stars around 6708A and which was interpreted in the literature as due to Li. Newly released line lists of lanthanide species reveal, however, the likely identification of the line to be due to a CeII transition. We argue that this identification is consistent with the Ce abundance of all the objects discussed in the literature and conclude that in none of the low-mass s-process enriched post-AGB stars there is indication for Li-production.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication as A&A Lette

A search for diffuse bands in the circumstellar envelopes of post-AGB stars

In this work we present the results of a systematic search for diffuse bands (DBs, hereafter) in the circumstellar envelopes of a carefully selected sample of post-AGB stars. We concentrated on the analysis of 9 of the DBs most commonly found in the interstellar medium. The strength of these features is determined using high resolution optical spectroscopy and the results obtained are compared with literature data on field stars affected only by interstellar reddening. Based on the weak features observed in the subsample of post-AGB stars dominated by circumstellar reddening we conclude that the carrier(s) of these DBs must not be present in the circumstellar environment of these sources, or at least not under the excitation conditions in which DBs are formed. The conclusion is applicable to all the post-AGB stars studied, irrespective of the dominant chemistry or the spectral type of the star considered. A detailed radial velocity analysis of the features observed in individual sources confirms this result, as the Doppler shifts measured are found to be consistent with an interstellar origin.Comment: Accepted for A&

On metal-deficient barium stars and their link with yellow symbiotic stars

This paper addresses the question of why metal-deficient barium stars are not yellow symbiotic stars (YSyS). Samples of (suspected) metal-deficient barium (mdBa) stars and YSyS have been collected from the literature, and their properties reviewed. It appears in particular that the barium nature of the suspected mdBa stars needs to be ascertained by detailed abundance analyses. Abundances are therefore derived for two of them, HD 139409 and HD 148897, which reveal that HD 148897 should not be considered a barium star. HD 139409 is a mild barium star, with overabundances observed only for elements belonging to the first s-process peak (Y and Zr). The evidence for binarity among mdBa stars is then reviewed, using three different methods: (i) radial-velocity variations (from CORAVEL observations), (ii) Hipparcos astrometric data, and (iii) a method based on the comparison between the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 proper motions. A first-time orbit is obtained for HIP 55852, whereas evidence for the (so far unknown) binary nature of HIP 34795, HIP 76605, HIP 97874 and HIP 107478 is presented. Two stars with no evidence for binarity whatsoever (HIP 58596 and BD +3 2688) are candidates low-metallicity thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch stars, as inferred from their large luminosities. The reason why mdBa stars are not YSyS is suggested to lie in their different orbital period distributions: mdBa stars have on average longer orbital periods than YSyS, and hence their companion accretes matter at a lower rate, for a given mass loss rate of the giant star. The definite validation of this explanation should nevertheless await the determination of the orbital periods for the many mdBa stars still lacking periods, in order to make the comparison more significant.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press; 16 pages, 14 figures; also available at http://www.astro.ulb.ac.be/Html/ps.html#PR

Convective-reactive proton-C12 combustion in Sakurai's object (V4334 Sagittarii) and implications for the evolution and yields from the first generations of stars

Depending on mass and metallicity as well as evolutionary phase, stars occasionally experience convective-reactive nucleosynthesis episodes. We specifically investigate the situation when nucleosynthetically unprocessed, H-rich material is convectively mixed with a He-burning zone, for example in convectively unstable shell on top of electron-degenerate cores in AGB stars, young white dwarfs or X-ray bursting neutron stars. Such episodes are frequently encountered in stellar evolution models of stars of extremely low or zero metal content [...] We focus on the convective-reactive episode in the very-late thermal pulse star Sakurai's object (V4334 Sagittarii). Asplund etal. (1999) determined the abundances of 28 elements, many of which are highly non-solar, ranging from H, He and Li all the way to Ba and La, plus the C isotopic ratio. Our simulations show that the mixing evolution according to standard, one-dimensional stellar evolution models implies neutron densities in the He that are too low to obtain a significant neutron capture nucleosynthesis on the heavy elements. We have carried out 3D hydrodynamic He-shell flash convection [...] we assume that the ingestion process of H into the He-shell convection zone leads only after some delay time to a sufficient entropy barrier that splits the convection zone [...] we obtain significantly higher neutron densities (~few 10^15 1/cm^3) and reproduce the key observed abundance trends found in Sakurai's object. These include an overproduction of Rb, Sr and Y by about 2 orders of magnitude higher than the overproduction of Ba and La. Such a peculiar nucleosynthesis signature is impossible to obtain with the mixing predictions in our one-dimensional stellar evolution models. [...] We determine how our results depend on uncertainties of nuclear reaction rates, for example for the C13(\alpha, n)O16 reaction.Comment: ApJ in press, this revision contains several changes that improve clarity of presentation reflecting the suggestions made by the referee; this version represents no change in substance compared to version 1; some technical material has been moved to an appendix; an additional appendix deals in more detail with the combustion time scales; this version is practically identical to the ApJ versio

Chemical composition of evolved stars of high galactic latitude

We have carried out abundance analysis for a sample of high galactic latitude supergiants in search of evolved stars. We find that HD 27381 has atmospheric parameters and an abundance pattern very similar to that of the post-AGB star HD 107369. HD 10285 and HD 25291 are moderately metal-poor and show the influence of mixing that has brought the products of NeNa cycle to the surface. The high galactic latitude B supergiant HD 137569 shows selective depletion of refractory elements normally seen in post-AGB stars. We find that the high velocity B type star HD 172324 shows moderate deficiency of Fe group elements but the CNO abundances are very similar to that of disk B supergiants. The observed variations in the radial velocities, transient appearance of emission components in hydrogen line profiles and doubling of O I lines at 7774\AA support the possibility of this star being a pulsating variable or a binary star.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. Accepted in A&

Abundance Analysis of HE2148-1247, A Star With Extremely Enhanced Neutron Capture Elements

Abundances for 27 elements in the very metal poor dwarf star HE2148-1247 are presented, including many of the neutron capture elements. We establish that HE2148-1247 is a very highly s-process enhanced star with anomalously high Eu as well, Eu/H about half Solar, demonstrating the large addition of heavy nuclei at [Fe/H] = -2.3 dex. Ba and La are enhanced by a somewhat larger factor and reach the solar abundance, while Pb significantly exceeds it. Ba/Eu is ten times the solar r-process ratio but much less than that of the s-process, indicating a substantial r-process addition as well. C and N are also very highly enhanced. We have found that HE2148-1247 is a radial velocity variable. The C, N and the s-process element enhancements thus presumably were produced through mass transfer from a former AGB binary companion. The large enhancement of heavy r-nuclides also requires an additional source as this is far above any inventory in the ISM at such low [Fe/H]. We further hypothesize that accretion onto the white dwarf from the envelope of the star caused accretion induced collapse of the white dwarf, forming a neutron star, which then produced heavy r-nuclides and again contaminated its companion. (abridged)Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. Companion paper by Qian and Wasserburg follow

Three-Dimensional Spectral Classification of Low-Metallicity Stars Using Artificial Neural Networks

We explore the application of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the estimation of atmospheric parameters (Teff, logg, and [Fe/H]) for Galactic F- and G-type stars. The ANNs are fed with medium-resolution (~ 1-2 A) non flux-calibrated spectroscopic observations. From a sample of 279 stars with previous high-resolution determinations of metallicity, and a set of (external) estimates of temperature and surface gravity, our ANNs are able to predict Teff with an accuracy of ~ 135-150 K over the range 4250 <= Teff <= 6500 K, logg with an accuracy of ~ 0.25-0.30 dex over the range 1.0 <= logg <= 5.0 dex, and [Fe/H] with an accuracy ~ 0.15-0.20 dex over the range -4.0 <= [Fe/H] <= +0.3. Such accuracies are competitive with the results obtained by fine analysis of high-resolution spectra. It is noteworthy that the ANNs are able to obtain these results without consideration of photometric information for these stars. We have also explored the impact of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) on the behavior of ANNs, and conclude that, when analyzed with ANNs trained on spectra of commensurate S/N, it is possible to extract physical parameter estimates of similar accuracy with stellar spectra having S/N as low as 13. Taken together, these results indicate that the ANN approach should be of primary importance for use in present and future large-scale spectroscopic surveys.Comment: 51 pages, 11 eps figures, uses aastex; to appear in Ap

Using High Performance Computing and Open Source Technologies for Solving Behaviour Analytics Problems in E-Learning

In this paper the authors describe solution for solving various analytical problems in E-learning, Course Management Systems like Moodle by using HPC (High Performance Computing) and Apache Hadoop open source technologies in Liepaja University. The problem is that nowadays there are collecting huge amounts of analytics data from several gigabytes to petabytes, which is hard to store, process, analyse and visualize. This article reflects one of the solutions concerning distributed parallel processing of huge amounts of data across inexpensive, industry-standard servers that can store and process the data, can scale without limits and provides technological opportunities of reliable, scalable and distributed computing.

New Spectroscopic Observations of the Post-AGB Star V354Lac=IRAS22272+5435

The strongest absorption features with the lower-level excitation potentials $\chi_{\rm low}<1$ eV are found to be split in the high-resolution optical spectra of the post-AGB star V354 Lac taken in 2007--2008. Main parameters, T$_{eff}$=5650 K, $\log g$=0.2, $\xi_t$=5.0 km/s, and the abundances of 22 chemical elements in the star's atmosphere are found. The overabundance of the $s$-process chemical elements (Ba, La, Ce, Nd) in the star's atmosphere is partly due to the splitting of strong lines of the ions of these metals. The peculiarities of the spectrum in the wavelength interval containing the LiI $\lambda$ 6707 \AA{} line can be naturally explained only by taking the overabundances of the CeII and SmII heavy-metal ions into account. The best agreement with the synthetic spectrum is achieved assuming $\epsilon$(LiI)=2.0, $\epsilon$(CeII)=3.2, and $\epsilon$(SmII)=2.7. The velocity field both in the atmosphere and in the circumstellar envelope of V354 Lac remained stationary throughout the last 15 years of our observations.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 2 table