Search for Variable Stars in the Globular Cluster M3

We describe here results of a photometric time-sequence survey of the globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272), in a search for contact and detached eclipsing binary stars. We have discovered only one likely eclipsing binary and one SX Phe type star in spite of monitoring 4077 stars with $V<20.0$ and observing 25 blue stragglers. The newly identified SX Phe star, V237, shows a light curve with a variable amplitude. Variable V238 shows variability either with a period of 0.49 d or with a period of 0.25 d. On the cluster colour-magnitude diagram, the variable occupies a position a few hundredths of magnitude to the blue of the base of the red giant branch. V238 is a likely descendent of a binary blue straggler. As a side result we obtained high quality data for 42 of the previously known RR Lyrae variables, including 33 of Bailey type ab, 7 type c and 2 double-mode pulsators. We used equations that relate the physical properties of RRc stars to their pulsation periods and Fourier parameters to derive masses, luminosities, temperatures and helium parameters for five of the RRc stars. One of the RRd stars (V79) has switched modes. In previous studies, it was classified as RRab, but our observations show that it is an RRd star with the first overtone mode dominating. This indicates blueward evolution on the horizontal branch.Comment: 21 pages including 14 figures, Latex, requires mn.sty, psfig.sty. Submitted, MNRA

The mass and radius of the M dwarf companion to GD 448

We present spectroscopy and photometry of GD 448, a detached white dwarf - M dwarf binary with a period of 2.47h. We find that the NaI 8200A feature is composed of narrow emission lines due to irradiation of the M dwarf by the white dwarf within broad absorption lines that are essentially unaffected by heating. Combined with an improved spectroscopic orbit and gravitational red shift measurement from spectra of the H-alpha line, we are able to derive masses for the white dwarf and M dwarf directly (0.41 +/- 0.01 solar masses and 0.096 +/- 0.004 solar masses, respectively). We use a simple model of the CaII emission lines to establish the radius of the M dwarf assuming the emission from its surface to be proportional to the incident flux per unit area from the white dwarf. The radius derived is 0.125 +/- 0.020 solar radii. The M dwarf appears to be a normal main-sequence star in terms of its mass and radius and is less than half the size of its Roche lobe. The thermal timescale of the M dwarf is much longer than the cooling age of the white dwarf so we conclude that the M dwarf was unaffected by the common-envelope phase. The anomalous width of the H-alpha emission from the M dwarf remains to be explained, but the strengh of the line may be due to X-ray heating of the M dwarf due to accretion onto the white dwarf from the M dwarf wind.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

A Search for Distant Galactic Cepheids Toward l=60

We present results of a survey of a 6-square-degree region near l=60, b=0 to search for distant Milky Way Cepheids. Few MW Cepheids are known at distances >~ R_0, limiting large-scale MW disk models derived from Cepheid kinematics; this work was designed to find a sample of distant Cepheids for use in such models. The survey was conducted in the V and I bands over 8 epochs, to a limiting I~=18, with a total of ~ 5 million photometric observations of ~ 1 million stars. We present a catalog of 578 high-amplitude variables discovered in this field. Cepheid candidates were selected from this catalog on the basis of variability and color change, and observed again the following season. We confirm 10 of these candidates as Cepheids with periods from 4 to 8 days, most at distances > 3 kpc. Many of the Cepheids are heavily reddened by intervening dust, some with implied extinction A_V > 10 mag. With a future addition of infrared photometry and radial velocities, these stars alone can provide a constraint on R_0 to 8%, and in conjunction with other known Cepheids should provide good estimates of the global disk potential ellipticity.Comment: 18 pages, 4 tables, 13 figures (LaTeX / AASTeX

Possible Optical Detection of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar CXOU J010043.1-721134

Archival Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud serendipitously reveal a possible counterpart to the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar CXOU J010043.1-721134. The candidate is faint, but its location and strange colours make it an interesting object. We estimate, that the probability of such a detection being due to a non-physical source is less than 1.5%. We have tried to confirm the identification with Gemini-South and Magellan, but the conditions were insufficiently favourable. If confirmed, the object will allow the first detailed studies of the optical and ultraviolet emission of magnetars.Comment: 9 pages LaTeX, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Forty eclipsing binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud: fundamental parameters and Cloud distance

We have conducted a programme to determine the fundamental parameters of a substantial number of eclipsing binaries of spectral types O and B in the Small Magellanic Cloud. New spectroscopic data, obtained with the two-degree-field multi-object spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope, have been used in conjunction with photometry from the Optical Gravitational Lens Experiment (OGLE-II) database of SMC eclipsing binaries. Previously we reported results for 10 systems; in this second and concluding paper we present spectral types, masses, radii, temperatures, surface gravities and luminosities for the components of a further 40 binaries. The full sample of 50 OB-type eclipsing systems is the largest single set of fundamental parameters determined for high-mass binaries in any galaxy. We find that 21 of the systems studied are in detached configurations, 28 are in semi-detached post-mass-transfer states, and one is a contact binary. Each system provides a primary distance indicator. We find a mean distance modulus to the SMC of 18.91+/-0.03+/-0.1 (internal and external uncertainties; D=60.6+/-1.0 kpc). This value represents one of the most precise available determinations of the distance to the SMC.Comment: paper accepted on 22 November 2004 for publication by MNRAS; 26 pages, 6 tables, 12 figure

Evolution of Horizontal Branch Stars in Globular Clusters: The Interesting Case of V79 in M3

New observations of variable stars in the globular cluster M3 reveal that the RR Lyrae variable V79 is a double-mode (RRd) variable with the first overtone mode dominating. In all previous studies, V79 was found to be a fundamental mode (RRab) pulsator with an irregular light curve. This is the first observed mode switch for an RR Lyrae variable and it is direct observational evidence for blueward evolution of horizontal branch stars in the Oosterhoff type I cluster M3. It also demonstrates that there is a connection between the Blazhko effect and pulsational mode mixing in RR Lyrae variables. These new observations also show that the strength of the overtone oscillations in the RRd star V68 in M3 may have increased in the last 70 years, thus indicating blueward evolution for V68 as well. A survey of previously published investigations of RRd stars in Oosterhoff type II systems indicates that there is marginal evidence for an increase in the strength of fundamental mode oscillations in two stars: V30 in M15 and AQ Leo. If these increases are confirmed by future observations, it will indicate redward evolution for RRd stars in type II systems.Comment: 10 pages including 3 figures, Latex, requires aaspp4.sty. Accepted by ApJ

Subarcsecond Submillimeter Imaging of the Ultracompact HII Region G5.89-0.39

We present the first subarcsecond submillimeter images of the enigmatic ultracompact HII region (UCHII) G5.89-0.39. Observed with the SMA, the 875 micron continuum emission exhibits a shell-like morphology similar to longer wavelengths. By using images with comparable angular resolution at five frequencies obtained from the VLA archive and CARMA, we have removed the free-free component from the 875 micron image. We find five sources of dust emission: two compact warm objects (SMA1 and SMA2) along the periphery of the shell, and three additional regions further out. There is no dust emission inside the shell, supporting the picture of a dust-free cavity surrounded by high density gas. At subarcsecond resolution, most of the molecular gas tracers encircle the UCHII region and appear to constrain its expansion. We also find G5.89-0.39 to be almost completely lacking in organic molecular line emission. The dust cores SMA1 and SMA2 exhibit compact spatial peaks in optically-thin gas tracers (e.g. 34SO2), while SMA1 also coincides with 11.9 micron emission. In CO(3-2), we find a high-velocity north/south bipolar outflow centered on SMA1, aligned with infrared H2 knots, and responsible for much of the maser activity. We conclude that SMA1 is an embedded intermediate mass protostar with an estimated luminosity of 3000 Lsun and a circumstellar mass of ~1 Msun. Finally, we have discovered an NH3 (3,3) maser 12 arcsec northwest of the UCHII region, coincident with a 44 GHz CH3OH maser, and possibly associated with the Br gamma outflow source identified by Puga et al. (2006).Comment: 41 pages, 11 figures, published in The Astrophysical Journal (2008) Volume 680, Issue 2, pp. 1271-1288. An error in the registration of the marker positions in Figure 11 has been corrected in this versio

A Search for Nitrogen-Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars

Theoretical models of very metal-poor intermediate-mass Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars predict a large overabundance of primary nitrogen. The very metal-poor, carbon-enhanced, s-process-rich stars, which are thought to be the polluted companions of now-extinct AGB stars, provide direct tests of the predictions of these models. Recent studies of the carbon and nitrogen abundances in metal-poor stars have focused on the most carbon-rich stars, leading to a potential selection bias against stars that have been polluted by AGB stars that produced large amounts of nitrogen, and hence have small [C/N] ratios. We call these stars Nitrogen-Enhanced Metal-Poor (NEMP) stars, and define them as having [N/Fe] > +0.5 and [C/N] < -0.5. In this paper, we report on the [C/N] abundances of a sample of 21 carbon-enhanced stars, all but three of which have [C/Fe] < +2.0. If NEMP stars were made as easily as Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars, then we expected to find between two and seven NEMP stars. Instead, we found no NEMP stars in our sample. Therefore, this observational bias is not an important contributor to the apparent dearth of N-rich stars. Our [C/N] values are in the same range as values reported previously in the literature (-0.5 to +2.0), and all stars are in disagreement with the predicted [C/N] ratios for both low-mass and high-mass AGB stars. We suggest that the decrease in [C/N] from the low-mass AGB models is due to enhanced extra-mixing, while the lack of NEMP stars may be caused by unfavorable mass ratios in binaries or the difficulty of mass transfer in binary systems with large mass ratios.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Ap

Radial Velocity Studies of Close Binary Stars.IV

Radial-velocity measurements and sine-curve fits to the orbital velocity variations are presented for the fourth set of ten close binary systems: 44 Boo, FI Boo, V2150 Cyg, V899 Her, EX Leo, VZ Lib, SW Lyn, V2377 Oph, Anon Psc (GSC 8-324), HT Vir. All systems are double-lined spectroscopic binaries with only two of them not being contact systems (SW Lyn and GSC 8-324) and with five (FI Boo, V2150 Cyg, V899 Her, EX Leo, V2377 Oph) being the recent photometric discoveries of the Hipparcos satellite project. Five of the binaries are triple-lined systems (44 Boo, V899 Her, VZ Lib, SW Lyn, HT Vir). Three (or possibly four) companions in the triple-lined systems show radial-velocity changes during the span of our observations suggesting that these are in fact quadruple systems. Several of the studied systems are prime candidates for combined light and radial-velocity synthesis solutions.Comment: aastex5.0, 5 figures in PS; submitted to Astron.

NGC 602 Environment, Kinematics and Origins

The young star cluster NGC 602 and its associated HII region, N90, formed in a relatively isolated and diffuse environment in the Wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud. Its isolation from other regions of massive star formation and the relatively simple surrounding HI shell structure allows us to constrain the processes that may have led to its formation and to study conditions leading to massive star formation. We use images from Hubble Space Telescope and high resolution echelle spectrographic data from the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with 21-cm neutral hydrogen (HI) spectrum survey data and the shell catalogue derived from it to establish a likely evolutionary scenario leading to the formation of NGC 602. We identify a distinct HI cloud component that is likely the progenitor cloud of the cluster and HII region which probably formed in blister fashion from the cloud's periphery. We also find that the past interaction of HI shells can explain the current location and radial velocity of the nebula. The surrounding Interstellar Medium is diffuse and dust-poor as demonstrated by a low visual optical depth throughout the nebula and an average HI density of the progenitor cloud estimated at 1 cm^-3. These conditions suggest that the NGC 602 star formation event was produced by compression and turbulence associated with HI shell interactions. It therefore represents a single star forming event in a low gas density region.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP. 25 pages, 10 figure