Are All Hot Subdwarf Stars in Close Binaries?

We discuss whether the hypothesis that “all (or most) subdwarfs are in close binaries” is supported by the frequently reported observations of photometrically or spectroscopically composite character of many hot subdwarf stars. By way of a possible counter-argument, we focus on resolved companions (optical pairs) of hot subdwarf stars. On a statistical basis, many of these are physically associated with the hot subdwarfs, i.e. they are common proper motion pairs. These resolved pairs make a several percent contribution to the catalog of hot subdwarf stars per decade in projected separation. If they are just the relatively wide members of a binary population similar to the local G-dwarf binary population (A&A, 248, 485), which has a very wide distribution of orbital separations, then many of the unresolved but composite hot subdwarf binaries may not be “close” in the astrophysical sense. In that case, binary channels for hot subdwarf formation may be less important than expected, or must involve companions (white dwarfs) that do not result in a composite spectrum system.     

On evolution of contact eclipsing binaries

It is shown that during contact eclipsing binaries evolution under the influence of stellar wind, magnetic stellar wind and with matter transfer by gas flow, in binary stellar systems there may take place a process of star merger (low mass stars) within 10⁵–10⁷ yr and a fast increase of distance between stars of massive binaries. W UMa-type stars are a finite evolutionary stage of very close and low mass binary pairs. As for contact systems of early spectral types (CE-systems), they are more varied in evolution.     

Asteroseismology: Past, present and future

Asteroseismology studies stars with a wide variety of interior and surface conditions. For two decades asteroseismic techniques have been applied to many pulsating stars across the HR diagram. Asteroseismology is now a booming field of research with stunning new discoveries; I highlight a personal selection of these in this review, many of which are discussed in more detail elsewhere in these proceedings. For many years the Nainital-Cape Survey for northern roAp stars has been running at ARIES, so I emphasise new spectroscopic results for roAp stars and point out the outstanding prospects for the planned ARIES 3-m telescope at Devastai. High precision spectroscopy has revolutionised the asteroseismic study of some types of stars — particularly solar-like oscillators and roAp stars — while photometry is still the best way to study the frequency spectra that are the basic data of asteroseismology. New telescopes, new photometers and space missions are revolutionising asteroseismic photometry. In addition to the ground-based potential of asteroseismic spectroscopy, India has the knowledge and capability for space-based asteroseismic photometry. The future for asteroseismology is bright indeed, especially for Indian astronomers.     

The stellar content of binary star clusters in the LMC

The bright stellar content for fifteen binary star clusters and their adjoining fields in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) were studied here. Film copies of plates taken with the 1.2 U.K. Schmidt telescope were used for deriving the spectral types of the stars in the studied regions. All classified stars are brighter thanV=17.5 mag and situated in large areas around each pair and in a neighbouring field. Seven of the pairs, the brightest and most populous are young clusters (located mainly at the north part of the parent galaxy). The derived distributions of spectral types of their stars give strong evidence that each pair consists of similar stellar content with ages 0.6–8×10⁷ yr.Eight more binary star clusters were studied as well, selected among the rest of the binaries in the LMC. It is found that their stars were faint for our limit of detection so the poor statistics did not allow a comparison among the two cluster members of each pair. However the bright limit of their stars implies ages >6×10⁸ yr. Considering that these objects were randomly selected it is unlikely that all are projected pairs. So it seems that binarity in star clusters is a phenomenon (favourable in the LMC) which did not happen only once in the life of this galaxy.     

Homogenized effective temperatures for metal deficient stars from stellar catalogues

Homogeneous independent subsamples from selected catalogues and libraries of effective temperatures for metal deficient F–G stars are treated here by combining them in triples and pairs for the stars in common to determine their external errors from data intercomparisons. The effective temperatures are then averaged (with the weights inversely proportional to the squared errors) to produce mean homogenized catalogues which may be used for calibration of spectral and photometric data in large Galactic surveys. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Metallicity Distribution Function of Extremely low-Metallicity Stars

We discuss new results based on the many thousands of extremely metal-poor stars discovered in the ongoing HK survey of Beers and collaborators. The present status of the photometric and spectroscopy follow-up efforts are summarized, and the nature of the halo metallicity distribution function is considered. We point out the existence of apparent complexities in the kinematics of the lowest abundance stars in the Galaxy, and discuss the presence of a large fraction of carbon-enhanced stars among the HK survey stars with [Fe/H] ≤ −2.0. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Hipparcos astrometric binaries

The Input Catalogue of some 100000 stars that is presently prepared for observation by the astrometric satellite HIPPARCOS, will contain many double and multiple systems. Because of the Hipparcos observation technique, these systems have to be divided in a few particular categories that are described and discussed. Each of them leads to specific considerations concerning the contribution of the Hipparcos observations. The category of very close pairs to which Hipparcos will certainly add many systems newly discovered during the mission, is compared to that of the few astrometric pairs that have been discovered by groundbased techniques.Hipparcos appears finally as a very important tool in double star astronomy research and especially in the field of very close systems.Communication presented at the International Conference on Astrometric Binaries, held on 13–15 June, 1984, at the Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, Germany, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846).     

A general catalogue of ephemerides and apparent orbits for visual binaries

Summary Informations on 736 pairs of visual binaries are given in the form of the Tables. The General Catalogue gives ephemerides (t,θ°,ρ″) in 20 years (1984–2003) for each pair with the figures of its apparent elliptical orbit where the positions of secondary component relative to the primary one at different epochs are indicated.The General Catalogue contains four parts: Part one — Source and Grading of Orbit; Part two — Ephemérides and Atlas of Apparent Orbits; Part three — Classifications of Visual Binary Stars; Part four — Indexes of Visual Binary Stars. The principle of calculation and the statistical data are presented in this paper. There are seven statistical tables, giving the elements distribution of true and apparent orbits, grading distribution of orbits, number distribution with different physical property of component of binary star. The number of binary stars in anyone constellation, the number of binary stars brighter than 6^m.5. The number of binary stars nearer than 25 parsec.     

The search for wide pairs among nearby stars

Summary The detectability and confirmation of wide pairs among nearby stars is difficult due to uncertainties in their motions arising from errors in the observational data. Statistical tests for wide pairs reveal the increasing unevenness in space motions with decreasing age. They cannot so easily distinguish between the supposed finer structure of wide pairs and triples, and larger clumps commonly associated with small moving groups and star streams. Improved radial velocities and parallaxes which are now possible, will decrease the error in space motion to well under one km s⁻¹, and this will permit such distinction to be made.     

Magnetic fields at the surfaces of stars

Summary Magnetic fields have now been detected in stars in several parts of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Roughly dipolar fields ranging in strength between 3× 10² and 3×10⁴ G are found in many chemically peculiar A and B main sequence stars. Dipolar fields are also found in some 2–3% of white dwarfs, but with strengths between 1×10⁶ and 5×10⁸ G. In both these types of stars, the observed fields vary as the underlying star turns, but do not change in a secular manner. In solartype stars, structurally complex fields of a few kG are found with filling factors of the order of 0.1 to 0.8. Further indirect evidence of fields in cool main sequence stars is provided by detection of visible and ultraviolet line emission (chromospheric activity), x radiation (coronal matter), and giant starspots. In this review, we survey the observations of stellar magnetism in all these types of stars, as well as efforts to model the observed magnetic fields and associated photospheric peculiarities and activity.This article was processed by the author using the Springer-Verlag T_EX AAR macro package 1991.     

Searching for Binary Systems Among Nearby Dwarfs Based on Pulkovo Observations and SDSS Data

Our goal is to find previously unknown binary systems among low-mass dwarfs in the solar neighborhood and to test the search technique. The basic ideas are to reveal the images of stars with significant ellipticities and/or asymmetries compared to the background stars on CCD frames and to subsequently determine the spatial parameters of the binary system and the magnitude difference between its components. For its realization we have developed a method based on an image shapelet decomposition. All of the comparatively faint stars with large proper motions (V >13 ^m , μ > 300 mas yr^?1) for which the “duplicate source” flag in the Gaia DR1 catalogue is equal to one have been included in the list of objects for our study. As a result, we have selected 702 stars. To verify our results, we have performed additional observations of 65 stars from this list with the Pulkovo 1-m “Saturn” telescope (2016–2017). We have revealed a total of 138 binary candidates (nine of them from the “Saturn” telescope and SDSS data). Six program stars are known binaries. The images of the primaries of the comparatively wide pairs WDS 14519+5147, WDS 11371+6022, and WDS 15404+2500 are shown to be resolved into components; therefore, we can talk about the detection of triple systems. The angular separation ρ, position angle, and component magnitude difference Δm have been estimated for almost all of the revealed binary systems. For most stars 1.5′′ < ρ < 2.5′′, while Δm <1.5^m.     

Magnetic field model for slowly rotating CP-stars. γEqu= HD201601

A magnetic field model is constructed for the extremely slow rotator γEqu based on measurements of its magnetic field over many years and using the “magnetic charge” method. An analysis of γEqu and of all the data accumulated up to the present on the magnetic field parameters of chemically peculiar stars leads to some interesting conclusions, of which the main ones are: the fact that the axis of rotation and the dipole axis are not parallel in γEqu and the other slowly rotating magnetic stars which we have studied previously is one of the signs that the braking of CP stars does not involve the participation of the magnetic field as they evolve “to the main sequence.” The axes of the magnetic field dipole in slow rotators are oriented arbitrarily with respect to their axes of rotation. The substantial photometric activity of these CP stars also argues against these axes being close. The well-known absence of sufficiently strong magnetic fields in the Ae/Be Herbig stars also presents difficulties for the hypothesis of “magnetic braking” in the “pre-main sequence” stages of evolution. The inverse relation between the average surface magnetic field Bs and the rotation period P is yet another fact in conflict with the idea that the magnetic field is involved in the braking of CP stars. We believe that angular momentum loss involving the magnetic field can hardly have taken place during evolution immediately prior “to the main sequence,” rather the slow rotation of CP stars most likely originates from protostellar clouds with low angular momentum. Some of the slowly rotating stars have a central dipole magnetic field configuration, while others have a displaced dipole configuration, where the displacement can be toward the positive or the negative magnetic pole. __________ Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 251–262 (May 2006).     

Dynamical study of wide pairs of stars based on data from the WDS catalog

Using the method of apparent motion parameters, we have studied the relative motion of the components in 561 pairs of wide (ρ > 2″) and relatively nearby (Hipparcos parallaxes > 0.01″) visual double stars based on data from the WDS catalog. The minimum masses of the double stars have been calculated at given parallaxes. We have identified 358 optical pairs. For 11 stellar pairs, we have found the minimum mass to exceed the estimate corresponding to their spectral types and luminosities. This excess is 5–7 M _⊙ for two stars, ADS 7446 and 9701.     

Presolar silicon carbide grains and their parent stars

Abstract— Carbon stars are an important source of presolar TiC, SiC, and graphite grains found in meteorites. The elemental abundances in the stellar sources of the SiC grains are inferred by using condensation calculations. These elemental abundances, together with C isotopic compositions, are used to identify possible groups of carbon stars that may have contributed SiC grains to the presolar dust cloud. The most likely parent stars of meteoritic SiC mainstream grains are N-type carbon stars and evolved subgiant CH stars. Both have s-process element abundances higher than solar and 10 < ¹²C/¹³C < 100 ratios. The J stars and giant CH stars, with solar and greater than solar abundances of s-process elements, respectively, are good candidate parents for the ‘A’ and ‘B’ SiC grains with low ¹²C/¹³C ratios. A special subgroup of CH giant stars with very large ¹²C/¹³C ratios could have parented the ‘Y’ SiC grains with ¹²C/¹³C ratios > 100. The carbon star population (e.g., N, R, J, CH groups) needed to provide the observed SiC grains is compared to the current population of carbon stars. This comparison suggests that low-metallicity CH stars may have been more abundant in the past (>4.5 Ga ago) than at present. This suggestion is also supported by condensation-chemistry modeling of the trace element patterns in the SiC grains that shows that subsolar Fe abundances may be required in the stellar sources for many SiC grains. The results of this study suggest that presolar SiC grains in meteorites can provide information about carbon stars during galactic evolution.     

Asteroseismology: from dream to reality

With the resounding success of helioseismology in determining the interior structure and rotation of the Sun, and in providing unprecedented studies of the interaction of pulsation and magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere, astronomers have been delighted, after decades of disappointing attempts, with the recent discovery of solar-like oscillations in ξ Hya, β Hyi, α Cen A and B, η Boo, ν Ind, ζ Her, δ Eri, HD 20794, HD 160191, and others as this list is growing rapidly. There is now true seismology of some solar-like stars. Asteroseismology also studies stars with a wide variety of interior and surface conditions. For two decades asteroseismic techniques have been applied to many pulsating stars across the HR diagram. This review describes some recent developments for some selected classes of pulsating stars other than the solar-like oscillators.     

Observations of double stars at Pulkovo with 65 cm Zeiss refractor

Some results of the photographic observations of double stars with 65 cm refractor of Pulkovo observatory are presented. We use the apparent motion parameters (AMP) method which allows to determine the orbits and to carry out the dynamical investigation of wide binaries on the basis of a short arc of their orbital motion. We have determined more than 40 orbits for wide pairs and also the sum of masses and in some cases—the mass-ratio of components. The references to our works and the basic results of observations are contained in Kisselev et al. [2004. Catalogue of relative positions of visual double stars made on the observations with 26^″ refractor of Pulkovo observatory. Strassbourg, I/297]. We apply two ways of revealing the hidden mass of our stars, namely: revealing of possible perturbations from comparison of observational and calculated positions using differences O-C (for instance, perturbations in the orbital motion of ADS 15571) and also by means of comparison of the sum of the masses obtained by us and the sum of the masses obtained by means of the mass-luminosity relation. An excess of masses of about 1-3 solar masses is detected for binaries: ADS 497, ADS 8450 and ADS 10329 by means of last method.The estimations of the masses for some binaries are discussed. Also we justify the necessity of precise parallaxes and relative radial velocities of stars, which could be measured by space telescopes such as the GAIA as the additional parameters for determination of orbits of binaries.     

Experiments with CP stars

Described here is a preliminary and tentative application of a method for fine-classification of stars, selected for studies of galactic structure. The present investigation is based on about 100 stars within the approximate spectral type range B6-A5, for which both spectra andUBV photometry have been obtained. The motivation of the project is the following: For the study of galactic fine-structure it is essential to use as many members as possible of stellar agglomerations of various type for a statistical treatment of the material. A-type stars are fairly numerous and reasonably bright, but if all chemically peculiar stars, fast rotators or multiple systems have to be omitted there is generally too little left for a relevant investigation. Here we perform some experiments in order to find a method for fine-classification of A stars, both normal and chemically peculiar, within the framework of the M K system. In this connection it is desirable to reduce the present multitude of CP classifications to a manageable number. It is shown here that, independenttly of the definition of the degree of peculiarity, there is no sharp borderline separating the CP stars from the ‘normal’ ones. Also it is found that spectral classification can on an average be performed with almost the same accuracy for CP stars as for the ‘normal’ ones provided cases of extreme peculiarity are avoided. Based on observations collected at European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.     

Lithium in chemically peculiar CP stars with magnetic fields

The problem of lithium in chemically peculiar Ap-CP stars has been the subject of debate for many years. The main reason for this is a lack of spectral observations of Ap stars in the neighborhood of the lithium resonance doublet Li I 6708 Å. An international cooperation project on “Lithium in cool CP stars with magnetic fields” was started in 1996. Systematic observations of CP stars in spectral regions of the 6708 Å and 6103 Å lines at the ZTSh (CrAO), CAT (ESO), Feros (ESO), and the 74″ telescope of the Mount Stromlo Observatory (Australia) have been used to analyze spectra of several CP stars studied by the way the 6708 Å lithium line varies with the stars’ rotational phase. Monitoring of the spectra of the oscillating CP stars (group I) HD 83368, HD 60435, and HD 3980, for which significant Doppler shifts of the Li I 6708 Å line are observed led to the discovery of “lithium spots” on the surface of these stars whose positions are related to the magnetic field structure. Models of the surfaces of these stars with the special program “ROTATE” based on the profiles of the Li I 6708 Å line are used to estimate the size of the spots, their positions on the stars’ surface, and the lithium abundances in these spots. A detailed analysis and modelling of the spectra of slowly rotating oscillating CP stars with strong, invariant lithium 6708 Å emission, including blending with lines of the rare earth elements, reveals an enhanced lithium abundance, with the abundance determined from the lithium 6103 Å line being higher than that determined from the 6708 Å line for all the stars. This may indicate vertical stratification of lithium in the atmospheres of CP stars with an anomalous isotopic composition (⁶Li/⁷Li = 0.2–0.5). HD 101065, an ultraslow rotator (vsini ≈ 1.5) visible from the poles and with powerful oscillations which cause pulsating line broadening in its spectrum, is unique among these stars. The amount of lithium in the atmosphere of HD 101065 logN(Li) = 3.1 on a scale of logN(H) = 12.0 and the isotope ratio ⁶Li/⁷Li ≈ 0.3. The high estimates of ⁶Li/⁷Li may be explained by the production of lithium in spallation reactions and the preservation of surface ⁶Li and ⁷Li by strong magnetic fields in the upper layers of the atmosphere near the magnetic poles. __________ Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 463–492 (August 2007).     

Speckle interferometry of nearby multiple stars. V. 2002–2006 positional measurements

We present the measurements of positional parameters of 194 nearby binary stars performed at the 6-m BTA telescope of the SAO RAS from 2002 through 2006 applying the speckle interferometric technique. The observations were conducted at central filter wavelengths ranging from 545 to 800 nm using a speckle interferometer equipped with a fast CCD and a three-stage image intensifier. A significant part of the observed systems (80 stars) are pairs, the duality of which was discovered or suspected from the Hipparcos satellite observations. The remaining stars are visual binaries and interferometric binary systems with orbital motion period estimates from several to tens of years, as well as the pairs with slow relative motion of the components, used for gaging the image scales and positional angle calibrations.     

Gamma-ray bursts from degenerate stars

A number of models have been proposed for the observed cosmic gamma-ray bursts. A class of such models involves the use of magnetic energy as the principal source of energy required for the bursts. In this case, arguments are presented to show that degenerate stars are favored. Mechanisms for magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in white dwarfs and neutron stars are discussed. Preliminary work indicates that magnetic white dwarfs can (but neutron stars probably cannot) account for many of the observed features of the bursts.Paper presented at the COSPAR Symposium on Fast Transients in X- and Gamma-Rays, held at Varna, Bulgaria, 29–31 May, 1975.