Observations of Cepheids with the MOST satellite: contrast between pulsation modes
- Author(s)
- N. R. Evans, R. Szabo, A. Derekas, László Szabados, C. Cameron, Werner Wolfgang Weiss
- Abstract
The quantity and quality of satellite photometric data strings is revealing details in Cepheid variation at very low levels. Specifically, we observed a Cepheid pulsating in the fundamental mode and one pulsating in the first overtone with the Canadian MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars) satellite. The 3.7-d period fundamental mode pulsator (RT Aur) has a light curve that repeats precisely, and can be modelled by a Fourier series very accurately. The overtone pulsator (SZ Tau, 3.1 d period) on the other hand shows light-curve variation from cycle to cycle which we characterize by the variations in the Fourier parameters. We present arguments that we are seeing instability in the pulsation cycle of the overtone pulsator, and that this is also a characteristic of the O - C curves of overtone pulsators. On the other hand, deviations from cycle to cycle as a function of pulsation phase follow a similar pattern in both stars, increasing after minimum radius. In summary, pulsation in the overtone pulsator is less stable than that of the fundamental mode pulsator at both long and short time-scales.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Cape Breton University
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume
- 446
- Pages
- 4008 - 4018
- No. of pages
- 11
- ISSN
- 0035-8711
- Publication date
- 02-2015
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/409e4207-29d5-465d-b4c6-507774ae79d2