Multiperiodic Galactic field RR Lyrae stars in the ASAS catalog

Abstract

The All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) monitors bright stars (8 mag < V < 14 mag) south of declination +28 deg. The ASAS Catalogue of Variable Stars (ACVS) presently contains 50,099 objects; among them are 2212 objects classified as RR Lyrae pulsating variables. We use ASAS photometric V band data to search for multiperiodicity in those stars. We find that 73 of 1435 RRab stars and 49 of 756 RRc stars exhibit the Blazhko effect. We observe a deficiency of RRab Blazhko variables with main pulsation periods greater than 0.65 days. The Blazhko periods of RRc stars exhibit a strongly bimodal distribution. During our study we discovered the Blazhko effect with multiple periods in object ASAS 050747-3351.9 = SU Col. Blazhko periods of 89.3 d and 65.8 d and a candidate of 29.5 d were identified with periodogram peaks near the first three harmonics of the main pulsation. These observations may inspire new models of the Blazhko effect, which has eluded a consistent theory since its discovery about one hundred years ago. Long term lightcurve changes were found in 29 stars. We also found 19 Galactic double mode pulsators (RRd), of which 4 are new discoveries, raising the number of ASAS discoveries of such objects to 16, out of 27 known in the field of our Galaxy.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, published in MNRA