Mass-ejection events in Be stars triggered by coupled nonradial pulsation modes

Be stars (for an in-depth review see Rivinius, Carciofi & Martayan 2013) rotate at ⩾80% of the critical velocity and are multi-mode nonradial pulsators. Magnetic dipole fields are not detected, and binaries with periods less than 30 days are rare. The name-giving emission lines form in a Keplerian decretion disk, which is viscously re-accreted and also radiatively ablated unless replenished by outburts of unknown origin.Months-long, high-cadence space photometry with the BRITE-Constellation nanosatellites (Pablo et al. 2016) of about 10 early-type Be stars reveals the following (cf. Baade et al. 2016a, Baade et al. 2016b): ○Many Be stars exhibit 1 or 2 so-called Δ frequencies, which are differences between two nonradial-pulsation (NRP) frequencies and much lower (mostly less than 0.1 c/d) than the parent frequencies. The associated light curves are roughly sinusoidal. The amplitudes can exceed that of the sum of the parent amplitudes.○Conventional beat patterns also occur.○Amplitudes of both Δ and beat frequencies can temporarily be enhanced. Around phases of maximal amplitude the mean brightness is in- or decreased, and the scatter can be enhanced.○During high-activity phases (outbursts), broad and dense groups of numerous spikes arise in the power spectra. The two strongest groups often have a frequency ratio near 2. The phase coherence seems to be low.○Time coverage (less than half a year) is not yet sufficient to infer whether two Δ or beat frequencies can combine to cause long-lasting (years) superoutbursts (cf. Carciofi et al. 2012).From these observations it is concluded: •The variable mean brightness and the increased Δ-frequency amplitude and scatter trace the amount of near-circumstellar matter.•Increase or decrease of mean brightness is aspect-angle dependent (pole-on vs. equator-on).•Increased amounts of near-circumstellar matter are due to rotation-assisted mass ejections caused by coupled NRP modes.•Observations do not constrain the location of the coupling (atmosphere or stellar interior).•Broad frequency groups do not represent stellar pulsation modes but circumstellar variability.•Be stars later than B5 are less active and may in some cases even behave differently.

The long secondary periods in semi-regular variables

About 25% of variable asymptotic giant branch stars in the LMC have light curves that are modulated by a long secondary period of length ~ 1–4 yr. Solar-vicinity analogs of these stars show radial velocity curves that are asymmetric and of small amplitude (~3–5km s−1). Possible explanations for the photometric and radial velocity variations include: eccentric motion of an orbiting companion of mass ~0.1 M⊙; radial and nonradial pulsation; rotation of an ellipsoidal-shaped red giant; episodic dust ejection; and star spot cycles. We find that there are severe difficulties with each of these models. Thus, the long secondary periods are the only unexplained type of large-amplitude stellar variability known at this time.

Astero-Oscillometry: Gauging Stars with Oscillations

Astero-oscillometry is presented as a new method for deriving stellar parameters on the basis of a physical modeling of line profile variability (lpv) caused by nonradial pulsation (nrp). First applications to rapidly rotating B-type stars show that the method is able to yield reasonable stellar parameters. The radii are systematically smaller compared to those derived by conventional methods. This could be attributed to possible effects of rapid rotation on stellar evolution. Since the method requires only one or a few pulsation modes to be excited, it is ideally suited to investigating early-type stars.

Unified NRP-Modelling of Be Stars

Recently, the line profile variability (lpv) of two low-v sin i Be stars, μ Cen and ω (28) CMa was successfully modelled as nonradial pulsation (nrp) of rapidly rotating stars seen pole-on. In this work, it is shown that the lpv of low-v sin i early-type Be stars in general closely resembles these two cases, and is therefore explainable by the same mechanism. The lpv of intermediate to high-v sin i Be stars can be explained by the same model if the inclination angle of the model alone is increased. Consequently, early-type Be stars form a distinct, fairly homogeneous class of non-radial low-order g-mode pulsators.

A Search for Short-Term RV Variations in Early-Type Binaries

We developed a procedure to disentangle the different radial velocity variations due to orbital motion, rotation, and pulsation based on an iterative mutual subtraction of orbital and short-term contributions. The method was successfully tested on a data set of over 2200 spectra of the eclipsing β Cep star EN Lac spanning a time interval of about 90 years. We further applied the procedure to early type binaries. For the A1 III star 21 Her we found short-term variations which indicate the presence of rotationally split nonradial pulsation (NRP) modes.

Nonradial Pulsations in Classical Pulsators

Recent analyses of photometric data on globular clusters and galaxies enabled us to study more closely the long-periodic amplitude/phase modulation (Blazhko effect) in classical variables. In the frequency spectra of these stars we see either a doublet or an equally-spaced triplet with a very small frequency separation close to the main component. None of the available theoretical models are able to explain this behavior without invoking some form of nonradial pulsation. In this review we describe the observational status of the Blazhko variables, and discuss the limits of the applicability of the current models to these stars.

The Luminosities of δ Scuti Stars

The δ Scuti stars are variables found in the instability strip above the zero-age main sequence. Radial and nonradial pulsation modes have been detected in these stars. The large-amplitude variables with asymmetric light curves are radial pulsators. The pulsation periods are found to be in the period range of 0.03 – 0.25 days. Generally, the light amplitudes are small (total range < 0.3 mag), but some fundamental-mode variables reach 0.70 mag. The majority of the variables have light amplitudes <0.10 mag. Population II δ Scuti variables are frequently called SX Phe stars. Many of these variables have been found in globular clusters, where they populate the blue-straggler domain of the color-magnitude diagrams.

New Progress in Mode Detection and Identification in δ Scuti Stars by the Analysis of Line Profile Variations

Abstractδ Sct stars are among the most promising targets to perform ground-based asteroseismology. High resolution spectroscopy offers us a powerful technique to identify radial and nonradial pulsation modes, since we can easily detect oscillations and travelling features in the line profiles.