Asteroseismology of eclipsing binary stars using Kepler and the HERMES spectrograph

We introduce our PhD project in which we focus on pulsating stars in eclipsing binaries. The combination of high-precision Kepler photometry with high-resolution HERMES spectroscopy allows for detailed descriptions of our sample of target stars. We report here the detection of three false positives by radial velocity measurements.Comment: Proceedings paper, 2 pages, 2 figures, to appear in "Setting a New Standard in the Analysis of Binary Stars", Eds K. Pavlovski, A. Tkachenko, and G. Torres, EAS Publications Serie

Global stellar variability study in the field-of-view of the Kepler satellite

We present the results of an automated variability analysis of the Kepler public data measured in the first quarter (Q1) of the mission. In total, about 150 000 light curves have been analysed to detect stellar variability, and to identify new members of known variability classes. We also focus on the detection of variables present in eclipsing binary systems, given the important constraints on stellar fundamental parameters they can provide. The methodology we use here is based on the automated variability classification pipeline which was previously developed for and applied successfully to the CoRoT exofield database and to the limited subset of a few thousand Kepler asteroseismology light curves. We use a Fourier decomposition of the light curves to describe their variability behaviour and use the resulting parameters to perform a supervised classification. Several improvements have been made, including a separate extractor method to detect the presence of eclipses when other variability is present in the light curves. We also included two new variability classes compared to previous work: variables showing signs of rotational modulation and of activity. Statistics are given on the number of variables and the number of good candidates per class. A comparison is made with results obtained for the CoRoT exoplanet data. We present some special discoveries, including variable stars in eclipsing binary systems. Many new candidate non-radial pulsators are found, mainly Delta Sct and Gamma Dor stars. We have studied those samples in more detail by using 2MASS colours. The full classification results are made available as an online catalogue.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics on 09/02/201

Automated supervised classification of variable stars I. Methodology

The fast classification of new variable stars is an important step in making them available for further research. Selection of science targets from large databases is much more efficient if they have been classified first. Defining the classes in terms of physical parameters is also important to get an unbiased statistical view on the variability mechanisms and the borders of instability strips. Our goal is twofold: provide an overview of the stellar variability classes that are presently known, in terms of some relevant stellar parameters; use the class descriptions obtained as the basis for an automated `supervised classification' of large databases. Such automated classification will compare and assign new objects to a set of pre-defined variability training classes. For every variability class, a literature search was performed to find as many well-known member stars as possible, or a considerable subset if too many were present. Next, we searched on-line and private databases for their light curves in the visible band and performed period analysis and harmonic fitting. The derived light curve parameters are used to describe the classes and define the training classifiers. We compared the performance of different classifiers in terms of percentage of correct identification, of confusion among classes and of computation time. We describe how well the classes can be separated using the proposed set of parameters and how future improvements can be made, based on new large databases such as the light curves to be assembled by the CoRoT and Kepler space missions.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics (reference AA/2007/7638) Number of pages: 27 Number of figures: 1

Automated classification of periodic variable stars{Improved methodology for the automated classification of periodic variable stars}

We present a novel automated methodology to detect and classify periodic variable stars in a large database of photometric time series. The methods are based on multivariate Bayesian statistics and use a multi-stage approach. We applied our method to the ground-based data of the TrES Lyr1 field, which is also observed by the Kepler satellite, covering ~26000 stars. We found many eclipsing binaries as well as classical non-radial pulsators, such as slowly pulsating B stars, Gamma Doradus, Beta Cephei and Delta Scuti stars. Also a few classical radial pulsators were found.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures Accepted for publication in MNRA

IRAS 19135+3937: An SRd variable as interacting binary surrounded by a circumbinary disc

Semi-regular (SR) variables are not a homogeneous class and their variability is often explained due to pulsations and/or binarity. This study focuses on IRAS 19135+3937, an SRd variable with an infra-red excess indicative of a dusty disc. A time-series of high-resolution spectra, UBV photometry as well as a very accurate light curve obtained by the Kepler satellite, allowed us to study the object in unprecedented detail. We discovered it to be a binary with a period of 127 days. The primary has a low surface gravity and an atmosphere depleted in refractory elements. This combination of properties unambiguously places IRAS 19135+3937 in the subclass of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch stars with dusty discs. We show that the light variations in this object can not be due to pulsations, but are likely caused by the obscuration of the primary by the circumbinary disc during orbital motion. Furthermore, we argue that the double-peaked Fe emission lines provide evidence for the existence of a gaseous circumbinary Keplerian disc inside the dusty disc. A secondary set of absorption lines has been detected near light minimum, which we attribute to the reflected spectrum of the primary on the disc wall, which segregates due to the different Doppler shift. This corroborates the recent finding that reflection in the optical by this type of discs is very efficient. The system also shows a variable Halpha profile indicating a collimated outflow originating around the companion. IRAS 19135+3937 thus encompasses all the major emergent trends about evolved disc systems, that will eventually help to place these objects in the evolutionary context.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

"Обратная" переходность среди частей речи как актуализация внутренней формы слова

В статье рассматривается специфика внутренней формы синтаксических дериватов, которую предлагается обозначить термином "грамматикализованная". На примере существительных адъективного склонения, наречий/наречных выражений и отглагольных прилагательных анализируется механизм речевой "обратной" морфолого-синтаксической транспозиции, в основе которого лежит инициируемая внутренней формой транспозитов и квазитранспозитов грамматическая рефлексия говорящих.У статті розглядається специфіка внутрішньої форми синтаксичних деріватов, яку пропонується позначити терміном "граматикалізована". На прикладі іменників ад'єктивного відміни, наречий/наречных виразів і віддієслівних прикметників аналізується механізм мовної "зворотної" морфолого-синтаксичної транспозиції, в основі якого лежить ініційована внутрішньою формою транспозітів і квазітранспозітов граматична рефлексія говорючих.The article examines the specificity of internal form of syntactic derivatives, which is to be named as "grammaticalized" one. By the example of substantives of adjective declension model, adverbs/adverb expressions and verbal adjectives, the author analyzes the mechanism of speech "reverse" morphological-syntactic transposition, and it is speaker grammatical reflexion initiated by internal form of transposites and "quasi-transposites" what underlies this mechanism

A mid-IR interferometric survey with MIDI/VLTI: resolving the second-generation protoplanetary disks around post-AGB binaries

We present a mid-IR interferometric survey of the circumstellar environment of a specific class of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) binaries. For this class the presence of a compact dusty disk has been postulated on the basis of various spatially unresolved measurements. Our interferometric survey was performed with the MIDI instrument on the VLTI. In total 19 different systems were observed using variable baseline configurations. Combining all the visibilities at a single wavelength at 10.7 micron, we fitted two parametric models to the data: a uniform disk (UD) and a ring model mimicking a temperature gradient. We compared our observables of the whole sample, with synthetic data computed from a grid of radiative transfer models of passively irradiated disks in hydrostatic equilibrium. These models are computed with a Monte Carlo code that has been widely applied to describe the structure of protoplanetary disks around young stellar objects (YSO). The spatially resolved observations show that the majority of our targets cluster closely together in the distance-independent size-colour diagram, and have extremely compact N-band emission regions. The typical uniform disk diameter of the N-band emission region is about 40 mass which corresponds to a typical brightness temperature of 400-600~K. The resolved objects display very similar characteristics in the interferometric observables and in the spectral energy distributions. Therefore, the physical properties of the disks around our targets must be similar. The grid of protoplanetary disk models covers very well the observed objects. Much like for young stars, the spatially resolved N-band emission region is determined by the hot inner rim of the disk. Continued comparisons between post-AGB and protoplanetary disks will help to understand grain growth and disk evolution processes,Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures, in press in Astronomy and Astrophysic

On reducing the Heun equation to the hypergeometric equation

The reductions of the Heun equation to the hypergeometric equation by polynomial transformations of its independent variable are enumerated and classified. Heun-to-hypergeometric reductions are similar to classical hypergeometric identities, but the conditions for the existence of a reduction involve features of the Heun equation that the hypergeometric equation does not possess; namely, its cross-ratio and accessory parameters. The reductions include quadratic and cubic transformations, which may be performed only if the singular points of the Heun equation form a harmonic or an equianharmonic quadruple, respectively; and several higher-degree transformations. This result corrects and extends a theorem in a previous paper, which found only the quadratic transformations. [See K. Kuiken, "Heun's equation and the hypergeometric equation", SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis 10:3 (1979), 655-657.]Comment: 36 pages, a few additional misprints correcte