HST/STIS observations of sdBV stars: testing diffusion and pulsation theory

DOI10.1023/B:ASTR.0000044354.35919.7BzbMATH Open1062.85505arXivastro-ph/0309062WikidataQ60716000 ScholiaQ60716000MaRDI QIDQ702149FDOQ702149

Authors: S. J. O'Toole, U. Heber, P. Chayer, S. Charpinet, Gaëlle Fontaine, Diarmuid P. O'Donoghue 

Publication date: 17 January 2005

Published in: Astrophysics and Space Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We present the initial results of an abundance analysis of echelle UV spectra of 5 hot subdwarf B (sdB) stars. These stars have been identified as core helium burning objects on the extreme Horizontal Branch. Around 5% of sdBs show short-period acoustic mode oscillations. Models predict that these oscillations are due to an opacity bump caused by the ionisation of iron group elements. The necessary metal abundance has to be maintained by diffusive equilibrium between gravitational settling and radiative levitation. However, analyses of high resolution optical spectra has revealed that we cannot discriminate between pulsating and non-pulsating sdBs on the basis of the surface iron abundance. We have therefore obtained HST/STIS observations of 3 pulsators and 2 non-pulsators in the near and far UV to measure the surface abundance of elements that are unobservable from the ground. The overall aim of our study is to test diffusion and pulsation calculations by searching for significant differences between these surface abundances.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0309062

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zbMATH Keywords

abundancessubdwarfs

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Observational and experimental questions in relativity and gravitational theory (83B05) Galactic and stellar structure (85A15)

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• Joint spectral and polarimetric analysis of accelerated hot star wind transients
• The ``four sigma limit for significant periodicities
• Horizontal branch stars: The interplay between observations and theory, and insights into the formation of the galaxy

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