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Secular variability of the longitudinal magnetic field of the Ap star γ Equ
We present an analysis of the secular variability of the longitudinalmagnetic field Be in the roAp star γ Equ (HD 201601).Measurements of the stellar magnetic field Be were mostlycompiled from the literature, and we appended also our 33 newBe measurements which were obtained with the 1-m opticaltelescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory (Russia). All theavailable data cover the time period of 58 yr, and include both phasesof the maximum and minimum Be. We determined that the periodof the long-term magnetic Be variations equals 91.1 +/- 3.6yr, with Be(max) =+577 +/- 31 G and Be(min) =-1101+/- 31 G.
| Observed Orbital Eccentricities
For 391 spectroscopic and visual binaries with known orbital elementsand having B0-F0 IV or V primaries, we collected the derivedeccentricities. As has been found by others, those binaries with periodsof a few days have been circularized. However, those with periods up toabout 1000 or more days show reduced eccentricities that asymptoticallyapproach a mean value of 0.5 for the longest periods. For those binarieswith periods greater than 1000 days their distribution of eccentricitiesis flat from 0 to nearly 1, indicating that in the formation of binariesthere is no preferential eccentricity. The binaries with intermediateperiods (10-100 days) lack highly eccentric orbits.
| A catalog of stellar magnetic rotational phase curves
Magnetized stars usually exhibit periodic variations of the effective(longitudinal) magnetic field Be caused by their rotation. Wepresent a catalog of magnetic rotational phase curves, Be vs.the rotational phase φ, and tables of their parameters for 136stars on the main sequence and above it. Phase curves were obtained bythe least squares fitting of sine wave or double wave functions to theavailable Be measurements, which were compiled from theexisting literature. Most of the catalogued objects are chemicallypeculiar A and B type stars (127 stars). For some stars we also improvedor determined periods of their rotation. We discuss the distribution ofparameters describing magnetic rotational phase curves in our sample.All tables and Appendix A are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Tidal Effects in Binaries of Various Periods
We found in the published literature the rotational velocities for 162B0-B9.5, 152 A0-A5, and 86 A6-F0 stars, all of luminosity classes V orIV, that are in spectroscopic or visual binaries with known orbitalelements. The data show that stars in binaries with periods of less thanabout 4 days have synchronized rotational and orbital motions. Stars inbinaries with periods of more than about 500 days have the samerotational velocities as single stars. However, the primaries inbinaries with periods of between 4 and 500 days have substantiallysmaller rotational velocities than single stars, implying that they havelost one-third to two-thirds of their angular momentum, presumablybecause of tidal interactions. The angular momentum losses increase withdecreasing binary separations or periods and increase with increasingage or decreasing mass.
| Probable detection of radial magnetic field gradients in the atmospheres of Ap stars
For the first time the possible presence of radial gradients of magneticfields in the atmospheres of three magnetic Ap stars has been criticallyexamined by measurements of the mean magnetic field modulus fromspectral lines resolved into magnetically split components lying on thedifferent sides of the Balmer jump. A number of useful diagnostic linesbelow and above the Balmer discontinuity, only slightly affected byblends, with simple doublet and triplet Zeeman pattern have beenidentified from the comparison between synthetic spectra computed withthe SYNTHMAG code and the high resolution and S/N spectra obtained inunpolarized light with the ESO VLT UVES spectrograph. For all threestars of our sample, HD 965, HD 116114 and 33 Lib, an increase of themagnetic field strength of the order of a few hundred Gauss has beendetected bluewards of the Balmer discontinuity. These results should betaken into account in future modelling of the geometric structure of Apstar magnetic fields and the determination of the chemical abundances inAp stars with strong magnetic fields.Based on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory,Paranal, Chile (ESO program No. 70.D-0470).
| On the magnetic field of 52 Her
The measurements of the magnetic field of 52 Her accumulated by thepresent time are characterized by extremely high dispersion of results.In this paper we make attempt to simulate the magnetic field measured bydifferent authors under the assumption of the central dipole. It isshown that this model too badly describes the phase curves. Thequadrupole model yields better results. It is assumed that theinstability of measurement results is most likely due to the complexquadrupolar structure of the magnetic field and very broad spectrallines (0.4 Å). The modeling showed that the dispersion of measuredfield strengths can not be explained by the star precession. To finelysolve the problem of the field structure, new measurements with newtechniques are needed.
| Some Comments on the Magnetic Braking of CP Stars
The low rotation velocities of magnetic CP stars are discussed.Arguments against the involvement of the magnetic field in the loss ofangular momentum are given: (1) the fields are not strong enough inyoung stars in the stage of evolution prior to the main sequence; (2)there is no significant statistical correlation between the magneticfield strength and the rotation period of CP stars; (3) stars with shortperiods have the highest fields; (4) a substantial number of stars withvery low magnetic fields (B e P>25 days, which form 12% of the total,probably lie at the edge of the velocity distribution for low massstars. All of these properties conflict with the hypothesis of magneticbraking of CP stars.
| Stellar Kinematic Groups. II. A Reexamination of the Membership, Activity, and Age of the Ursa Major Group
Utilizing Hipparcos parallaxes, original radial velocities and recentliterature values, new Ca II H and K emission measurements,literature-based abundance estimates, and updated photometry (includingrecent resolved measurements of close doubles), we revisit the UrsaMajor moving group membership status of some 220 stars to produce afinal clean list of nearly 60 assured members, based on kinematic andphotometric criteria. Scatter in the velocity dispersions and H-Rdiagram is correlated with trial activity-based membership assignments,indicating the usefulness of criteria based on photometric andchromospheric emission to examine membership. Closer inspection,however, shows that activity is considerably more robust at excludingmembership, failing to do so only for <=15% of objects, perhapsconsiderably less. Our UMa members demonstrate nonzero vertex deviationin the Bottlinger diagram, behavior seen in older and recent studies ofnearby young disk stars and perhaps related to Galactic spiralstructure. Comparison of isochrones and our final UMa group membersindicates an age of 500+/-100 Myr, some 200 Myr older than thecanonically quoted UMa age. Our UMa kinematic/photometric members' meanchromospheric emission levels, rotational velocities, and scattertherein are indistinguishable from values in the Hyades and smaller thanthose evinced by members of the younger Pleiades and M34 clusters,suggesting these characteristics decline rapidly with age over 200-500Myr. None of our UMa members demonstrate inordinately low absolutevalues of chromospheric emission, but several may show residual fluxes afactor of >=2 below a Hyades-defined lower envelope. If one defines aMaunder-like minimum in a relative sense, then the UMa results maysuggest that solar-type stars spend 10% of their entire main-sequencelives in periods of precipitously low activity, which is consistent withestimates from older field stars. As related asides, we note six evolvedstars (among our UMa nonmembers) with distinctive kinematics that liealong a 2 Gyr isochrone and appear to be late-type counterparts to diskF stars defining intermediate-age star streams in previous studies,identify a small number of potentially very young but isolated fieldstars, note that active stars (whether UMa members or not) in our samplelie very close to the solar composition zero-age main sequence, unlikeHipparcos-based positions in the H-R diagram of Pleiades dwarfs, andargue that some extant transformations of activity indices are notadequate for cool dwarfs, for which Ca II infrared triplet emissionseems to be a better proxy than Hα-based values for Ca II H and Kindices.
| Catalogue of averaged stellar effective magnetic fields. I. Chemically peculiar A and B type stars
This paper presents the catalogue and the method of determination ofaveraged quadratic effective magnetic fields < B_e > for 596 mainsequence and giant stars. The catalogue is based on measurements of thestellar effective (or mean longitudinal) magnetic field strengths B_e,which were compiled from the existing literature.We analysed the properties of 352 chemically peculiar A and B stars inthe catalogue, including Am, ApSi, He-weak, He-rich, HgMn, ApSrCrEu, andall ApSr type stars. We have found that the number distribution of allchemically peculiar (CP) stars vs. averaged magnetic field strength isdescribed by a decreasing exponential function. Relations of this typehold also for stars of all the analysed subclasses of chemicalpeculiarity. The exponential form of the above distribution function canbreak down below about 100 G, the latter value representingapproximately the resolution of our analysis for A type stars.Table A.1 and its references are only available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/407/631 and Tables 3 to 9are only available in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org
| Automated spectroscopic abundances of A and F-type stars using echelle spectrographs. II. Abundances of 140 A-F stars from ELODIE
Using the method presented in Erspamer & North (\cite{erspamer},hereafter Paper I), detailed abundances of 140 stars are presented. Theuncertainties characteristic of this method are presented and discussed.In particular, we show that for a S/N ratio higher than 200, the methodis applicable to stars with a rotational velocity as high as 200 kms-1. There is no correlation between abundances and Vsin i,except a spurious one for Sr, Sc and Na which we explain by the smallnumber of lines of these elements combined with a locally biasedcontinuum. Metallic giants (Hauck \cite{hauck}) show larger abundancesthan normal giants for at least 8 elements: Al, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Niand Ba. The anticorrelation for Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Fe and Ni with Vsin isuggested by Varenne & Monier (\cite{varenne99}) is not confirmed.The predictions of the Montréal models (e.g. Richard et al.\cite{richard01}) are not fulfilled in general. However, a correlationbetween left [(Fe)/(H)right ] and log g is found for stars of 1.8 to 2.0M_sun. Various possible causes are discussed, but the physical realityof this correlation seems inescapable.Based on observations collected at the 1.93 m telescope at theObservatoire de Haute-Provence (St-Michel l'Observatoire, France) andCORALIE.Based on observations collected at the Swiss 1.2 m Leonard Eulertelescopes at the European Southern Observatory (La Silla, Chile).Tables 5 and 6 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u.strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/398/1121
| On the Periods of the Magnetic CP Stars
An HR diagram annotated to show several ranges of photometericallydetermined periods has been constructed for the magnetic CP stars whoseperiods have been determined by the author and his collaborators. Thedistribution of periods reflects both the initial conditions as well asthe subsequent stellar histories. Since the stellar magnetic field doesnot penetrate the convective core, eventually a shear zone near thecore-radiative envelope boundary may develop which produces turbulenceand modifies the field. Many, but not all, of the most rapidly rotatingmCP stars are close to the ZAMS and some of the least rapidly rotatingmCP stars are the furthest from the ZAMS.
| Kinematics of Hipparcos Visual Binaries. II. Stars with Ground-Based Orbital Solutions
This paper continues kinematical investigations of the Hipparcos visualbinaries with known orbits. A sample, consisting of 804 binary systemswith orbital elements determined from ground-based observations, isselected. The mean relative error of their parallaxes is about 12% andthe mean relative error of proper motions is about 4%. However, even 41%of the sample stars lack radial velocity measurements. The computedGalactic velocity components and other kinematical parameters are usedto divide the stars with known radial velocities into kinematical agegroups. The majority (92%) of binaries from the sample are thin diskstars, 7.6% have thick disk kinematics and only two binaries have halokinematics. Among them, the long-period variable Mira Ceti has a verydiscordant {Hipparcos} and ground-based parallax values. From the wholesample, 60 stars are ascribed to the thick disk and halo population.There is an urgent need to increase the number of the identified halobinaries with known orbits and substantially improve the situation withradial velocity data for stars with known orbits.
| New Magnetic Chemically Peculiar Stars
Not Available
| Metallicity Determinations from Ultraviolet-Visual Spectrophotometry. I. The Test Sample
New visual spectrophotometric observations of non-supergiant solarneighborhood stars are combined with IUE Newly Extracted Spectra (INES)energy distributions in order to derive their overall metallicities,[M/H]. This fundamental parameter, together with effective temperatureand apparent angular diameter, is obtained by applying the flux-fittingmethod while surface gravity is derived from the comparison withevolutionary tracks in the theoretical H-R diagram. Trigonometricparallaxes for the stars of the sample are taken from the HipparcosCatalogue. The quality of the flux calibration is discussed by analyzinga test sample via comparison with external photometry. The validity ofthe method in providing accurate metallicities is tested on a selectedsample of G-type stars with well-determined atmospheric parameters fromrecent high-resolution spectral analysis. The extension of the overallprocedure to the determination of the chemical composition of all theINES non-supergiant G-type stars with accurate parallaxes is planned inorder to investigate their atmospheric temperature structure. Based onobservations collected at the INAOE ``G. Haro'' Observatory, Cananea(Mexico).
| Multiplicity among chemically peculiar stars. II. Cool magnetic Ap stars
We present new orbits for sixteen Ap spectroscopic binaries, four ofwhich might in fact be Am stars, and give their orbital elements. Fourof them are SB2 systems: HD 5550, HD 22128, HD 56495 and HD 98088. Thetwelve other stars are: HD 9996, HD 12288, HD 40711, HD 54908, HD 65339,HD 73709, HD 105680, HD 138426, HD 184471, HD 188854, HD 200405 and HD216533. Rough estimates of the individual masses of the components of HD65339 (53 Cam) are given, combining our radial velocities with theresults of speckle interferometry and with Hipparcos parallaxes.Considering the mass functions of 74 spectroscopic binaries from thiswork and from the literature, we conclude that the distribution of themass ratio is the same for cool Ap stars and for normal G dwarfs.Therefore, the only differences between binaries with normal stars andthose hosting an Ap star lie in the period distribution: except for thecase of HD 200405, all orbital periods are longer than (or equal to) 3days. A consequence of this peculiar distribution is a deficit of nulleccentricities. There is no indication that the secondary has a specialnature, like e.g. a white dwarf. Based on observations collected at theObservatoire de Haute-Provence (CNRS), France.Tables 1 to 3 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/394/151Appendix B is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Rotational velocities of A-type stars in the northern hemisphere. II. Measurement of v sin i
This work is the second part of the set of measurements of v sin i forA-type stars, begun by Royer et al. (\cite{Ror_02a}). Spectra of 249 B8to F2-type stars brighter than V=7 have been collected at Observatoirede Haute-Provence (OHP). Fourier transforms of several line profiles inthe range 4200-4600 Å are used to derive v sin i from thefrequency of the first zero. Statistical analysis of the sampleindicates that measurement error mainly depends on v sin i and thisrelative error of the rotational velocity is found to be about 5% onaverage. The systematic shift with respect to standard values fromSlettebak et al. (\cite{Slk_75}), previously found in the first paper,is here confirmed. Comparisons with data from the literature agree withour findings: v sin i values from Slettebak et al. are underestimatedand the relation between both scales follows a linear law ensuremath vsin inew = 1.03 v sin iold+7.7. Finally, thesedata are combined with those from the previous paper (Royer et al.\cite{Ror_02a}), together with the catalogue of Abt & Morrell(\cite{AbtMol95}). The resulting sample includes some 2150 stars withhomogenized rotational velocities. Based on observations made atObservatoire de Haute Provence (CNRS), France. Tables \ref{results} and\ref{merging} are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.125.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/393/897
| Are Stellar Rotational Axes Distributed Randomly?
Stellar line widths yield values of Vsini, but the equatorial rotationalvelocities, V, cannot be determined for individual stars withoutknowledge of their inclinations, i, relative to the lines of sight. Forlarge numbers of stars we usually assume random orientations ofrotational axes to derive mean values of V, but we wonder whether thatassumption is valid. Individual inclinations can be derived only inspecial cases, such as for eclipsing binaries where they are close to90° or for chromospherically active late-type dwarfs or spotted(e.g., Ap) stars where we have independent information about therotational periods. We consider recent data on 102 Ap stars for whichCatalano & Renson compiled rotational periods from the literatureand Abt & Morrell (primarily) obtained measures of Vsini. We findthat the rotational axes are oriented randomly within the measuringerrors. We searched for possible dependence of the inclinations onGalactic latitude or longitude, and found no dependence.
| Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521
| Radial velocity and magnetic field observations with TRAFICOS
>From spectroscopic observations of some early- and late-type starswe determined radial velocity and longitudinal magnetic field values.The spectra have been performed with observations at the 2-m telescopeof the Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, equipped with theÉchelle spectrograph TRAFICOS and in many cases with Zeemananalyzer. For individual stars we give some comments about the radialvelocities and magnetic field values, and about any possiblevariability.
| Two-colour photometry for 9473 components of close Hipparcos double and multiple stars
Using observations obtained with the Tycho instrument of the ESAHipparcos satellite, a two-colour photometry is produced for componentsof more than 7 000 Hipparcos double and multiple stars with angularseparations 0.1 to 2.5 arcsec. We publish 9473 components of 5173systems with separations above 0.3 arcsec. The majority of them did nothave Tycho photometry in the Hipparcos catalogue. The magnitudes arederived in the Tycho B_T and V_T passbands, similar to the Johnsonpassbands. Photometrically resolved components of the binaries withstatistically significant trigonometric parallaxes can be put on an HRdiagram, the majority of them for the first time. Based on observationsmade with the ESA Hipparcos satellite.
| A Second Catalog of Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 Filter Photometry: Ultraviolet Photometry of 614 Stars
Ultraviolet photometry from the Wisconsin Experiment Package on theOrbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO 2) is presented for 614 stars.Previously unpublished magnitudes from 12 filter bandpasses withwavelengths ranging from 1330 to 4250 Å have been placed on thewhite dwarf model atmosphere absolute flux scale. The fluxes wereconverted to magnitudes using V=0 for F(V)=3.46x10^-9 ergs cm^-2 s^-1Å^-1, or m_lambda=-2.5logF_lambda-21.15. This second catalogeffectively doubles the amount of OAO 2 photometry available in theliterature and includes many objects too bright to be observed withmodern space observatories.
| The ROSAT all-sky survey catalogue of optically bright main-sequence stars and subgiant stars
We present X-ray data for all main-sequence and subgiant stars ofspectral types A, F, G, and K and luminosity classes IV and V listed inthe Bright Star Catalogue that have been detected as X-ray sources inthe ROSAT all-sky survey; several stars without luminosity class arealso included. The catalogue contains 980 entries yielding an averagedetection rate of 32 percent. In addition to count rates, sourcedetection parameters, hardness ratios, and X-ray fluxes we also listX-ray luminosities derived from Hipparcos parallaxes. The catalogue isalso available in electronic form via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| On the HIPPARCOS photometry of chemically peculiar B, A, and F stars
The Hipparcos photometry of the Chemically Peculiar main sequence B, A,and F stars is examined for variability. Some non-magnetic CP stars,Mercury-Manganese and metallic-line stars, which according to canonicalwisdom should not be variable, may be variable and are identified forfurther study. Some potentially important magnetic CP stars are noted.Tables 1, 2, and 3 are available only in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| The observed periods of AP and BP stars
A catalogue of all the periods up to now proposed for the variations ofCP2, CP3, and CP4 stars is presented. The main identifiers (HD and HR),the proper name, the variable-star name, and the spectral type andpeculiarity are given for each star as far as the coordinates at 2000.0and the visual magnitude. The nature of the observed variations (light,spectrum, magnetic field, etc.) is presented in a codified way. Thecatalogue is arranged in three tables: the bulk of the data, i.e. thosereferring to CP2, CP3, and CP4 stars, are given in Table 1, while thedata concerning He-strong stars are given in Table 2 and those foreclipsing or ellipsoidal variables are collected in Table 3. Notes arealso provided at the end of each table, mainly about duplicities. Thecatalogue contains data on 364 CP stars and is updated to 1996, October31. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS,Strasbourg, France.
| Search for cool circumstellar matter in the Ursae Majoris group with ISO
We observed the mid- and far-infrared spectral energy distributions of 9A-type stars from the 300 Myrs old Ursae Majoris group using the ISOsatellite and the UKIRT telescope. We found that only 1 out of the 9stars shows clear signature of circumstellar dust, and we derived anupper limit of 0.05 Mmoon for the dust mass around the otherstars. Our results suggest that the relatively high incidence ofVega-like disks observed among A-type field stars in the solarneighbourhood by IRAS cannot be extrapolated to the rest of the MilkyWay. The Vega phenomenon appears to be the exception rather than therule. Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instrumentsfunded by ESA member states (especially the P/I countries France,Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) with participation ofISAS and NASA.
| The HR-diagram from HIPPARCOS data. Absolute magnitudes and kinematics of BP - AP stars
The HR-diagram of about 1000 Bp - Ap stars in the solar neighbourhoodhas been constructed using astrometric data from Hipparcos satellite aswell as photometric and radial velocity data. The LM method\cite{luri95,luri96} allows the use of proper motion and radial velocitydata in addition to the trigonometric parallaxes to obtain luminositycalibrations and improved distances estimates. Six types of Bp - Apstars have been examined: He-rich, He-weak, HgMn, Si, Si+ and SrCrEu.Most Bp - Ap stars lie on the main sequence occupying the whole width ofit (about 2 mag), just like normal stars in the same range of spectraltypes. Their kinematic behaviour is typical of thin disk stars youngerthan about 1 Gyr. A few stars found to be high above the galactic planeor to have a high velocity are briefly discussed. Based on data from theESA Hipparcos astrometry satellite and photometric data collected in theGeneva system at ESO, La Silla (Chile) and at Jungfraujoch andGornergrat Observatories (Switzerland). Tables 3 and 4 are onlyavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| MSC - a catalogue of physical multiple stars
The MSC catalogue contains data on 612 physical multiple stars ofmultiplicity 3 to 7 which are hierarchical with few exceptions. Orbitalperiods, angular separations and mass ratios are estimated for eachsub-system. Orbital elements are given when available. The catalogue canbe accessed through CDS (Strasbourg). Half of the systems are within 100pc from the Sun. The comparison of the periods of close and widesub-systems reveals that there is no preferred period ratio and allpossible combinations of periods are found. The distribution of thelogarithms of short periods is bimodal, probably due to observationalselection. In 82\% of triple stars the close sub-system is related tothe primary of a wide pair. However, the analysis of mass ratiodistribution gives some support to the idea that component masses areindependently selected from the Salpeter mass function. Orbits of wideand close sub-systems are not always coplanar, although thecorresponding orbital angular momentum vectors do show a weak tendencyof alignment. Some observational programs based on the MSC aresuggested. Tables 2 and 3 are only available in electronic form at theCDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| The Lambda 6708 Feature in AP Stars
Not Available
| An analysis of the AP spectroscopic binary HD 59435.
HD 59435 is a double-lined spectroscopic binary (SB2), with slowlyrotating components of very similar luminosity. It was studied throughhigh-resolution spectroscopy, photometry and CORAVEL observations.Orbital elements are presented. The orbital period is 1387 days. Theline of sight lies close to the orbital plane, but no eclipses have beenobserved so far. The primary is an evolved G8 or K0 star, which haslikely just descended the Red Giant Branch. The secondary is a cool Apstar close to the end of its main-sequence life. It shows lines resolvedinto magnetically split components, from which its mean magnetic fieldmodulus can be diagnosed. The field varies with a remarkably largerelative amplitude, over a rotation period which is at least of theorder of 3 years.
| Linear polarimetry of AP stars. VI. A modified dipolar model consistent with the observations.
While some Ap variables display a linear polarization variation verysimilar to that computed for a pure magnetic dipole, several Ap starsshow conspicuous peculiarities which must be interpreted in terms ofdepartures from the standard, oblique rotator model (we have shownpreviously that abundances anomalies are not sufficient to explain oddpolarization diagrams). We have designed an inversion method, based on aresidues minimization process, which allows us to build the map of themagnetic peculiarities at the surface of non-dipolar stars. As thelinear polarization is but weakly sensitive to the variations of thefield modulus, we interpret the polarization anomalies in terms ofinclination changes of the lines of force within their meridian plane.Keeping the magnetic equator as a plane of symmetry, we show that it issufficient to assume slightly expanded lines of force, over some partsof the magnetic equator, to explain most peculiar polarization curves(Figs. 2 to 7). Such regions, where the lines of force expand outwards,seem to occur preferentially in the vicinity of the rotation poles forthose stars having a β angle not far from 90deg. In the case ofβ CrB, which was studied previously in detail (Leroy, 1995), thisregion nearly coincides with the equatorial patch of enhanced fieldstrength, which must be postulated to explain the surface fieldmeasurements. The present study, which also provides unambiguousdeterminations of the i and β angles for 15 stars, marks theprovisional end of our investigation based on broadband linearpolarization measurements. We expect that similar measurements, having agood spectral resolution, will be available soon: they will yield moresevere observational constraints enabling a more detailed modeling work.However, we think that the series of articles which ends with thepresent paper has demonstrated the great value of linear polarizationdata and may have opened fruitful research tracks bearing on themagnetic structure of Ap stars.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Hercules |
| Right ascension: | 16h49m14.20s |
| Declination: | +45°59'00.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 4.82 |
| Distance: | 53.706 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | 22.1 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -56.1 |
| B-T magnitude: | 4.935 |
| V-T magnitude: | 4.838 |
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INHABITED SKY
