Bibcode
Balona, L. A.; Guzik, J. A.; Uytterhoeven, K.; Smith, J. C.; Tenenbaum, P.; Twicken, J. D.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 415, Issue 4, pp. 3531-3538.
Advertised on:
8
2011
Citations
86
Refereed citations
76
Description
Visual classification of over 10 000 stars in the Kepler data base has
revealed a class of stars with almost monoperiodic light variations and
characteristic beating. A subset of these stars have a larger light
amplitude and asymmetric light curves with larger variation in maximum
brightness than in minimum brightness. The beating is mostly a result of
two dominant, closely spaced frequencies. A third group of stars shows
multiple low frequencies of comparable amplitudes. All three types of
star fall in the region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram where γ
Dor stars are found and we therefore identify them as γ Dor
variables. However, stars with migrating star-spots also have symmetric
light curves with beats, so it is likely that the sample is contaminated
by non-pulsating stars of this type. If we assume that the dominant
frequency in stars with beats is the rotational frequency, the resulting
distribution of equatorial rotational velocities matches that of field
stars of similar temperature and luminosity. We therefore conclude that
the pulsation periods of these stars must be close to their rotational
periods. The third group with multiple frequencies may be slowly
rotating γ Dor stars. This investigation is closely related to the
presence of low frequencies in δ Scuti stars which we briefly
discuss.