TY - JOUR A1 - Mösenlechner, Gerald A1 - Paunzen, Ernst A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid D. A1 - Seelig, Joseph A1 - Stidl, Sarah A1 - Maitzen, Hans Michael T1 - A Kepler K2 view of subdwarf A-type stars JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Context. The spectroscopic class of subdwarf A-type (sdA) stars has come into focus in recent years because of their possible link to extremely low-mass white dwarfs, a rare class of objects resulting from binary evolution. Although most sdA stars are consistent with metal-poor halo main-sequence stars, the formation and evolution of a fraction of these stars are still matters of debate. Aims. The identification of photometric variability can help to put further constraints on the evolutionary status of sdA stars, in particular through the analysis of pulsations. Moreover, the binary ratio, which can be deduced from eclipsing binaries and ellipsoidal variables, is important as input for stellar models. In order to search for variability due to either binarity or pulsations in objects of the spectroscopic sdA class, we have extracted all available high precision light curves from the Kepler K2 mission. Methods. We have performed a thorough time series analysis on all available light curves, employing three different methods. Frequencies with a signal-to-noise ratio higher than four have been used for further analysis. Results. From the 25 targets, 13 turned out to be variables of different kinds (i.e., classical pulsating stars, ellipsoidal and cataclysmic variables, eclipsing binaries, and rotationally induced variables). For the remaining 12 objects, a variability threshold was determined. KW - subdwarfs KW - white dwarfs KW - binaries: general KW - stars: evolution KW - stars: variables: general Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202037789 SN - 0004-6361 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 657 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reindl, Nicole A1 - Schaffenroth, Veronika A1 - Filiz, Semih A1 - Geier, Stephan A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid A1 - Kepler, Souza Oliveira T1 - Mysterious, variable, and extremely hot BT - White dwarfs showing ultra-high excitation lines: I. Photometric variability JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal / European Southern Observatory (ESO) N2 - Context. About 10% of all stars exhibit absorption lines of ultra-highly excited (UHE) metals (e.g., O VIII) in their optical spectra when entering the white dwarf cooling sequence. This is something that has never been observed in any other astrophysical object, and poses a decades-long mystery in our understanding of the late stages of stellar evolution. The recent discovery of a UHE white dwarf that is both spectroscopically and photometrically variable led to the speculation that the UHE lines might be created in a shock-heated circumstellar magnetosphere. Aims. We aim to gain a better understanding of these mysterious objects by studying the photometric variability of the whole population of UHE white dwarfs, and white dwarfs showing only the He II line problem, as both phenomena are believed to be connected. Methods. We investigate (multi-band) light curves from several ground- and space-based surveys of all 16 currently known UHE white dwarfs (including one newly discovered) and eight white dwarfs that show only the He II line problem. Results. We find that 75(-13)(+8) % of the UHE white dwarfs, and 75(-19)(+9)% of the He II line problem white dwarfs are significantly photometrically variable, with periods ranging from 0.22 d to 2.93 d and amplitudes from a few tenths to a few hundredths of a magnitude. The high variability rate is in stark contrast to the variability rate amongst normal hot white dwarfs (we find 9(2)(+4)%), marking UHE and He II line problem white dwarfs as a new class of variable stars. The period distribution of our sample agrees with both the orbital period distribution of post-common-envelope binaries and the rotational period distribution of magnetic white dwarfs if we assume that the objects in our sample will spin-up as a consequence of further contraction. Conclusions. We find further evidence that UHE and He II line problem white dwarfs are indeed related, as concluded from their overlap in the Gaia HRD, similar photometric variability rates, light-curve shapes and amplitudes, and period distributions. The lack of increasing photometric amplitudes towards longer wavelengths, as well as the nondetection of optical emission lines arising from the highly irradiated face of a hypothetical secondary in the optical spectra of our stars, makes it seem unlikely that an irradiated late-type companion is the origin of the photometric variability. Instead, we believe that spots on the surfaces of these stars and/or geometrical effects of circumstellar material might be responsible. KW - white dwarfs KW - stars: variables: general KW - starspots KW - binaries: close Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202140289 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 647 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krtička, Jiří A1 - Feldmeier, Achim T1 - Stochastic light variations in hot stars from wind instability BT - finding photometric signatures and testing against the TESS data JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal / European Southern Observatory (ESO) N2 - Context Line-driven wind instability is expected to cause small-scale wind inhomogeneities, X-ray emission, and wind line profile variability. The instability can already develop around the sonic point if it is initiated close to the photosphere due to stochastic turbulent motions. In such cases, it may leave its imprint on the light curve as a result of wind blanketing. Aims We study the photometric signatures of the line-driven wind instability. Methods We used line-driven wind instability simulations to determine the wind variability close to the star. We applied two types of boundary perturbations: a sinusoidal one that enables us to study in detail the development of the instability and a stochastic one given by a Langevin process that provides a more realistic boundary perturbation. We estimated the photometric variability from the resulting mass-flux variations. The variability was simulated assuming that the wind consists of a large number of independent conical wind sectors. We compared the simulated light curves with TESS light curves of OB stars that show stochastic variability. Results We find two typical signatures of line-driven wind instability in photometric data: a knee in the power spectrum of magnitude fluctuations, which appears due to engulfment of small-scale structure by larger structures, and a negative skewness of the distribution of fluctuations, which is the result of spatial dominance of rarefied regions. These features endure even when combining the light curves from independent wind sectors. Conclusions The stochastic photometric variability of OB stars bears certain signatures of the line-driven wind instability. The distribution function of observed photometric data shows negative skewness and the power spectra of a fraction of light curves exhibit a knee. This can be explained as a result of the line-driven wind instability triggered by stochastic base perturbations. KW - stars: winds KW - outflows KW - stars: mass-loss KW - stars: early-type KW - hydrodynamics KW - instabilities KW - stars: variables: general Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202040148 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 648 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid A1 - Vos, Joris A1 - Geier, Stephan A1 - Schaffenroth, Veronika A1 - Baran, Andrzej S. T1 - Alone but not lonely BT - observational evidence that binary interaction is always required to form hot subdwarf stars JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Context. Hot subdwarfs are core-helium burning stars that show lower masses and higher temperatures than canonical horizontal branch stars. They are believed to be formed when a red giant suffers an extreme mass-loss episode. Binary interaction is suggested to be the main formation channel, but the high fraction of apparently single hot subdwarfs (up to 30%) has prompted single star formation scenarios to be proposed.Aims. We investigate the possibility that hot subdwarfs could form without interaction by studying wide binary systems. If single formation scenarios were possible, there should be hot subdwarfs in wide binaries that have undergone no interaction.Methods. Angular momentum accretion during interaction is predicted to cause the hot subdwarf companion to spin up to the critical velocity. The effect of this should still be observable given the timescales of the hot subdwarf phase. To study the rotation rates of companions, we have analysed light curves from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite for all known hot subdwarfs showing composite spectral energy distributions indicating the presence of a main sequence wide binary companion. If formation without interaction were possible, that would also imply the existence of hot subdwarfs in very wide binaries that are not predicted to interact. To identify such systems, we have searched for common proper motion companions with projected orbital distances of up to 0.1 pc to all known spectroscopically confirmed hot subdwarfs using Gaia DR2 astrometry.Results. We find that the companions in composite hot subdwarfs show short rotation periods when compared to field main sequence stars. They display a triangular-shaped distribution with a peak around 2.5 days, similar to what is observed for young open clusters. We also report a shortage of hot subdwarfs with candidate common proper motion companions. We identify only 16 candidates after probing 2938 hot subdwarfs with good astrometry. Out of those, at least six seem to be hierarchical triple systems, in which the hot subdwarf is part of an inner binary.Conclusions. The observed distribution of rotation rates for the companions in known wide hot subdwarf binaries provides evidence of previous interaction causing spin-up. Additionally, there is a shortage of hot subdwarfs in common proper motion pairs, considering the frequency of such systems among progenitors. These results suggest that binary interaction is always required for the formation of hot subdwarfs. KW - subdwarfs KW - binaries: general KW - stars: variables: general Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038473 SN - 0004-6361 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 642 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krticka, Jiri A1 - Feldmeier, Achim T1 - Light variations due to the line-driven wind instability and wind blanketing in O stars JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - A small fraction of the radiative flux emitted by hot stars is absorbed by their winds and redistributed towards longer wavelengths. This effect, which leads also to the heating of the stellar photosphere, is termed wind blanketing. For stars with variable winds, the effect of wind blanketing may lead to the photometric variability. We have studied the consequences of line driven wind instability and wind blanketing for the light variability of O stars. We combined the results of wind hydrodynamic simulations and of global wind models to predict the light variability of hot stars due to the wind blanketing and instability. The wind instability causes stochastic light variability with amplitude of the order of tens of millimagnitudes and a typical timescale of the order of hours for spatially coherent wind structure. The amplitude is of the order of millimagnitudes when assuming that the wind consists of large number of independent concentric cones. The variability with such amplitude is observable using present space borne photometers. We show that the simulated light curve is similar to the light curves of O stars obtained using BRITE and CoRoT satellites. KW - stars: winds, outflows KW - stars: mass-loss KW - stars: early-type KW - stars: variables: general KW - hydrodynamics Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201731614 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 617 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hubrig, Swetlana A1 - Kholtygin, A. A1 - Ilyin, Ilya A1 - Schöller, M. A1 - Oskinova, Lida T1 - THE FIRST SPECTROPOLARIMETRIC MONITORING OF THE PECULIAR O4 Ief SUPERGIANT zeta PUPPIS JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - The origin of the magnetic field in massive O-type stars is still under debate. To model the physical processes responsible for the generation of O star magnetic fields, it is important to understand whether correlations between the presence of a magnetic field and stellar evolutionary state, rotation velocity, kinematical status, and surface composition can be identified. The O4 Ief supergiant zeta Pup is a fast rotator and a runaway star, which may be a product of a past binary interaction, possibly having had an encounter with the cluster Trumper 10 some 2 Myr ago. The currently available observational material suggests that certain observed phenomena in this star may be related to the presence of a magnetic field. We acquired spectropolarimetric observations of zeta Pup with FORS 2 mounted on the 8 m Antu telescope of the Very Large Telescope to investigate if a magnetic field is indeed present in this star. We show that many spectral lines are highly variable and probably vary with the recently detected period of 1.78 day. No magnetic field is detected in zeta Pup, as no magnetic field measurement has a significance level higher than 2.4 sigma. Still, we studied the probability of a single sinusoidal explaining the variation of the longitudinal magnetic field measurements. KW - stars: atmospheres KW - stars: early-type KW - stars: individual (zetaPup) KW - stars: magnetic field KW - stars: variables: general Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/822/2/104 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 822 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hubrig, Swetlana A1 - Scholz, Kathleen A1 - Hamann, Wolf-Rainer A1 - Schoeller, M. A1 - Ignace, R. A1 - Ilyin, Ilya A1 - Gayley, K. G. A1 - Oskinova, Lida T1 - Searching for a magnetic field in Wolf-Rayet stars using FORS 2 spectropolarimetry JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - To investigate if magnetic fields are present in Wolf-Rayet stars, we selected a few stars in the Galaxy and one in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We acquired low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations with the European Southern Observatory FORS 2 (FOcal Reducer low dispersion Spectrograph) instrument during two different observing runs. During the first run in visitor mode, we observed the LMC Wolf-Rayet star BAT99 7 and the stars WR 6, WR 7, WR 18, and WR 23 in our Galaxy. The second run in service mode was focused on monitoring the star WR 6. Linear polarization was recorded immediately after the observations of circular polarization. During our visitor observing run, the magnetic field for the cyclically variable star WR 6 was measured at a significance level of 3.3 sigma (< B-z > = 258 +/- 78 G). Among the other targets, the highest value for the longitudinal magnetic field, < B-z > = 327 +/- 141 G, was measured in the LMC star BAT99 7. Spectropolarimetric monitoring of the star WR 6 revealed a sinusoidal nature of the < B-z > variations with the known rotation period of 3.77 d, significantly adding to the confidence in the detection. The presence of the rotation-modulated magnetic variability is also indicated in our frequency periodogram. The reported field magnitude suffers from significant systematic uncertainties at the factor of 2 level, in addition to the quoted statistical uncertainties, owing to the theoretical approach used to characterize it. Linear polarization measurements showed no line effect in the stars, apart from WR 6. BAT99 7, WR 7, and WR 23 do not show variability of the linear polarization over two nights. KW - techniques: polarimetric KW - stars: individual: WR 6 KW - stars: magnetic field KW - stars: variables: general KW - stars: Wolf-Rayet Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw558 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 458 SP - 3381 EP - 3393 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hubrig, Swetlana A1 - Schöller, Markus A1 - Kholtygin, Alexander F. A1 - Tsumura, Hiroki A1 - Hoshino, Akio A1 - Kitamoto, Shunji A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Ignace, Richard A1 - Todt, Helge Tobias A1 - Ilyin, Ilya T1 - New multiwavelength observations of the Of?p star CPD-28 degrees 2561 JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - A rather strong mean longitudinal magnetic field of the order of a few hundred gauss was detected a few years ago in the Of?p star CPD -28 degrees 2561 using FORS2 (FOcal Reducer low dispersion Spectrograph 2) low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations. In this work, we present additional low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations obtained during several weeks in 2013 December using FORS 2 mounted at the 8-m Antu telescope of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). These observations cover a little less than half of the stellar rotation period of 73.41 d mentioned in the literature. The behaviour of the mean longitudinal magnetic field is consistent with the assumption of a single-wave variation during the stellar rotation cycle, indicating a dominant dipolar contribution to the magnetic field topology. The estimated polar strength of the surface dipole B-d is larger than 1.15 kG. Further, we compared the behaviour of the line profiles of various elements at different rotation phases associated with different magnetic field strengths. The strongest contribution of the emission component is observed at the phases when the magnetic field shows a negative or positive extremum. The comparison of the spectral behaviour of CPD -28 degrees 2561 with that of another Of?p star, HD 148937 of similar spectral type, reveals remarkable differences in the degree of variability between both stars. Finally, we present new X-ray observations obtained with the Suzaku X-ray Observatory. We report that the star is X-ray bright with log L-X/L-bol approximate to -5.7. The low-resolution X-ray spectra reveal the presence of a plasma heated up to 24 MK. We associate the 24 MK plasma in CPD -28 degrees 2561 with the presence of a kG strong magnetic field capable to confine stellar wind. KW - stars: atmospheres KW - stars: individual: CPD-28 degrees 2561 KW - stars: magnetic field KW - stars: mass-loss KW - stars: variables: general KW - X-rays: stars Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2516 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 447 IS - 2 SP - 1885 EP - 1894 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Todt, Helge Tobias A1 - Huenemoerder, David P. A1 - Hubrig, Swetlana A1 - Ignace, Richard A1 - Hamann, Wolf-Rainer A1 - Balona, Luis T1 - On X-ray pulsations in beta Cephei-type variables JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Context. beta Cep-type variables are early B-type stars that are characterized by oscillations observable in their optical light curves. At least one beta Cep-variable also shows periodic variability in X-rays. Aims. Here we study the X-ray light curves in a sample of beta Cep-variables to investigate how common X-ray pulsations are for this type of stars. Methods. We searched the Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray archives and selected stars that were observed by these telescopes for at least three optical pulsational periods. We retrieved and analyzed the X-ray data for kappa Sco, beta Cru, and alpha Vir. The X-ray light curves of these objects were studied to test for their variability and periodicity. Results. While there is a weak indication for X-ray variability in beta Cru, we find no statistically significant evidence of X-ray pulsations in any of our sample stars. This might be due either to the insufficient data quality or to the physical lack of modulations. New, more sensitive observations should settle this question. KW - stars: massive KW - stars: variables: general KW - X-rays: stars Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525908 SN - 0004-6361 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 577 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hubrig, Swetlana A1 - Schoeller, Markus A1 - Fossati, Luca A1 - Morel, Thierry A1 - Castro, Neves A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Przybilla, Norbert A1 - Eikenberry, Stephen S. A1 - Nieva, Maria Fernanda A1 - Langer, Norbert T1 - B fields in OB stars (BOB): FORS2 spectropolarimetric follow-up of the two rare rigidly rotating magnetosphere stars HD 23478 and HD 345439 JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Aims. Massive B-type stars with strong magnetic fields and fast rotation are very rare and pose a mystery for theories of star formation and magnetic field evolution. Only two such stars, called sigma Ori E analogues, were known until recently. A team involved in APOGEE, one of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III programs, announced the discovery of two additional rigidly rotating magnetosphere stars, HD 23478 and HD 345439. The magnetic fields in these newly discovered sOri E analogues have not been investigated so far. Methods. In the framework of our ESO Large Programme and one normal ESO programme, we carried out low-resolution FORS 2 spectropolarimetric observations of HD 23478 and HD 345439. Results. In the measurements of hydrogen lines, we discover a rather strong longitudinal magnetic field of up to 1.5 kG in HD 23478 and up to 1.3 kG using the entire spectrum. The analysis of HD 345439 using four subsequent spectropolarimetric subexposures does not reveal a magnetic field at a significance level of 3 sigma. On the other hand, individual subexposures indicate that HD 345439 may host a strong magnetic field that rapidly varies over 88 min. The fast rotation of HD 345439 is also indicated by the behaviour of several metallic and He I lines in the low-resolution FORS 2 spectra that show profile variations already on this short time-scale. KW - stars: early-type KW - stars: fundamental parameters KW - stars: variables: general KW - stars: magnetic field KW - stars: individual: HD 23478 KW - stars: individual: HD 345439 Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201526262 SN - 0004-6361 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 578 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER -