MNRAS 491, 4345–4364 (2020) doi:10.1093/mnras/stz3143 Advance Access publication 2019 November 12
Pulsation and rotation in NGC 6811: the Kepler short-cadence stars
E. Rodr´ıguez ,1‹ L. A. Balona ,2‹ M. J. Lopez-Gonz´ alez,´ 1‹ S. Ocando,1 S. Mart´ın-Ruiz1 and C. Rodr´ıguez-Lopez´ 1 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/491/3/4345/5622881 by Universidad de Granada - Biblioteca user on 29 April 2020 1Instituto de Astrof´ısica de Andaluc´ıa, CSIC, PO Box 3004, E-18080 Granada, Spain 2South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory, Cape 2735, South Africa
Accepted 2019 November 6. Received 2019 November 6; in original form 2019 September 11
ABSTRACT We have analysed a selected sample of 36 Kepler short-cadence stars in the field of NGC 6811. The results reveal that all the targets are variable: two red giant stars with solar-like oscillations, 21 main-sequence pulsators (16 δ Scuti and five γ Doradus stars), and 13 rotating variables. Three new γ Doradus (γ Dor) variables (one is a hot γ Dor star) are detected in this work together with five new rotating variables. An in-depth frequency analysis of the δ Scuti (δ Sct) and γ Dor stars in the sample shows that the frequency spectra are very rich, in particular for the δ Sct-type variables. They present very dense frequency distributions and wide diversity in frequency patterns, even for stars being members of the cluster and with very similar location in the Hertzsprung–Russell (H–R) diagram. Rotational modulation is found for a high percentage of these main-sequence pulsating stars, which is an indication of stellar activity being common on the surfaces of these hot stars. In some cases, activity dominates the luminosity variations. Significant amplitude variability is also detected in at least some of the pulsation modes of highest amplitude in almost all the δ Sct stars. One of the δ Sct pulsators is a member of a binary system with the pulsating component tidally distorted. This system also shows strong stellar activity, including several flares that probably originate in the δ Sct component. Key words: binaries: general – stars: oscillations – stars: rotation – stars: variables: δ Scuti – stars: variables: general.
Before the advent of high-precision photometry from space, it 1 INTRODUCTION was thought that the high frequencies in δ Sctweredrivenbythe Our knowledge of stellar pulsation has rapidly advanced with κ mechanism operating in the He II ionization zone (Pamyatnykh the advent of space missions, particularly Kepler (Borucki et al. 2000). For γ Dor stars, the driving mechanism was thought to be 2010;Kochetal.2010), owing to the exceptional quality of convective flux blocking near the base of the convective envelope the photometric time series. Kepler obtained almost uninterrupted (Guzik et al. 2000). Stars showing both low and high frequencies photometry for over 150 000 stars brighter than 16 mag, with a (the γ Dor/δ Sct hybrids) could be explained using time-dependent 29.4 min cadence over a 4-yr time span. These are long-cadence perturbation models (Dupret et al. 2004;Grigahcene` et al. 2005). (LC) observations. In addition, light curves with a cadence of about Besides, only a few hybrids were known, which appeared to be 1 min (short-cadence, SC, observations) are available for a few located between the δ Sct and γ Dor instability regions. thousand stars, but these typically cover a time span of only a few Nowadays, it is known that at least 98 per cent of δ Sct stars are months. hybrids (Balona 2014a, 2018c). Therefore, it no longer makes sense The γ Doradus (γ Dor) and δ Scuti (δ Sct) stars are A2–F5 dwarf to use the term ‘hybrid’. Furthermore, less than half of the stars in and giants that pulsate with multiple frequencies. The δ Sct stars the δ Sct instability strip seem to pulsate. Besides, the region where pulsate with typical frequencies in the range 5–50 d−1, while the γ Dor stars are to be found contains a mixture of γ Dor, δ Sct, and γ Dor stars pulsate in the 0–5 d−1 range. Both types of pulsating constant stars (Balona 2018c). It seems that γ Dor stars are just stars occupy a region of the instability strip that is an extension of δ Sct stars in which the high frequencies are suppressed for a reason the Cepheid instability strip towards lower luminosities. The γ Dor that is still unknown. The frequency content and distribution in δ Sct stars populate a much smaller region near the cool end of the δ Sct and γ Dor stars varies widely even for stars with the same effective instability strip. temperature and luminosity (Balona, Daszynska-Daszkiewicz´ & Pamyatnykh 2015; Balona 2018c). Taking into account all the accumulated observational evidence, it E-mail: [email protected] (ER); [email protected] (LAB); [email protected] (MJL-G) is clear that we need a new description of the pulsation mechanisms.