Modelling of variability of the chemically peculiar star ϕ Draconis

Autor(en)
M. Prvák, Jiri Liska, Jirí Krticka, Zdenék Mikulásek, Theresa Rank-Lüftinger
Abstrakt

Context: The presence of heavier chemical elements in stellar atmospheres influences the spectral energy distribution of stars. An uneven surface distribution of these elements, together with flux redistribution and stellar rotation, are commonly believed to be the primary causes of the variability of chemically peculiar (CP) stars.

Aims: We aim to model the photometric variability of the CP star ϕ Dra based on the assumption of inhomogeneous surface distribution of heavier elements and compare it to the observed variability of the star. We also intend to identify the processes that contribute most significantly to its photometric variability.

Methods: We use a grid of TLUSTY model atmospheres and the SYNSPEC code to model the radiative flux emerging from the individual surface elements of ϕ Dra with different chemical compositions. We integrate the emerging flux over the visible surface of the star at different phases throughout the entire rotational period to synthesise theoretical light curves of the star in several spectral bands.

Results: The synthetic light curves in the visible and in the near-UV regions are in very good agreement with the observed variability of the star. The lack of usable far-UV measurements of the star precludes making any conclusions about the correctness of our model in this spectral region. We also obtained 194 new BVRI observations of ϕ Dra and improved its rotational period to P = 1.716500d.

Conclusions: We show that the inhomogeneous distribution of elements, flux redistribution, and rotation of the star are fully capable of explaining the stellar variability in the visible and the near-UV regions. The flux redistribution is mainly caused by bound-free transitions of silicon and bound-bound transitions of iron.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Astrophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
Masaryk University
Journal
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Band
584
Anzahl der Seiten
9
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201526647
Publikationsdatum
12-2015
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/modelling-of-variability-of-the-chemically-peculiar-star--draconis(2374fff3-376b-4c0f-9dd3-6e6c9543cb1f).html