Gaia's view of the λ Boo star puzzle
- Author(s)
- Simon J. Murphy, Ernst Paunzen
- Abstract
The evolutionary status of the chemically peculiar class of λ Boo stars has been intensely debated. It is now agreed that the λ Boo phenomenon affects A stars of all ages, from star formation to the terminal age main sequence, but the cause of the chemical peculiarity is still a puzzle. We revisit the debate of their ages and temperatures in order to shed light on the phenomenon, using the new parallaxes in Gaia Data Release 1 with existing Hipparcos parallaxes and multicolour photometry. We find that no single formation mechanism is able to explain all the observations, and suggest that there are multiple channels producing λ Boo spectra. The relative importance of these channels varies with age, temperature and environment.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Western Sydney University, Masaryk University
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume
- 466
- Pages
- 546 - 555
- No. of pages
- 10
- ISSN
- 0035-8711
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw3141
- Publication date
- 04-2017
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/c30a3770-cc4f-4059-b3a2-43a458278c5b