Stars spend most of their lifetimes on the `main sequence' (MS) in the Hertzsprung--Russell diagram. The obvious double MSs seen in the equivalent color--magnitude diagrams characteristic of Milky Way open clusters pose a fundamental challenge to our traditional understanding of star clusters as `single stellar populations.' The clear MS bifurcation of early-type stars with masses greater than $\sim1.6 M_\odot$ is thought to result from a range in the stellar rotation rates. However, direct evidence connecting double MSs to stellar rotation properties has yet to emerge. Here, we show through analysis of the projected stellar rotational velocities ($v\sin i$, where $i$ represents the star's inclination angle) that the well-separated double MS in the young, $\sim200Myr$-old Milky Way open cluster NGC 2287 is tightly correlated with a dichotomous distribution of stellar rotation rates. We discuss whether our observations may reflect the effects of tidal locking affecting a fraction of the cluster's member stars in stellar binary systems. We show that the slow rotators could potentially be initially rapidly rotating stars that have been slowed down by tidal locking by a low mass-ratio companion in a cluster containing a large fraction of short-period, low-mass-ratio binaries. This demonstrates that stellar rotation drives the split MSs in young, $\lessapprox 300$Myr-old star clusters. However, special conditions, e.g., as regards the mass-ratio distribution, might be required for this scenario to hold.
We present a detailed analysis of the projected stellar rotational velocities of the well-separated double main sequence (MS) in the young, $\sim200$Myr-old Milky Way open cluster NGC 2287 and suggest that stellar rotation may drive the split MSs in NGC 2287. We find that the observed distribution of projected stellar rotation velocities could result from a dichotomous distribution of stellar rotation rates. We discuss whether our observations may reflect the effects of tidal locking affecting a fraction of the cluster's member stars in stellar binary systems. The slow rotators are likely star…
Tidal dissipation in binary star and planetary systems is poorly understood. Fortunately, eccentric binaries known as heartbeat stars often exhibit tidally excited oscillations, providing observable diagnostics of tidal circularization mechanisms and timescales. We apply tidal theories to observations of the heartbeat star KIC 8164262, which contains an F-type primary in a very eccentric orbit that exhibits a prominent tidally excited oscillation. We demonstrate that the prominent oscillation is unlikely to result from a chance resonance between tidal forcing and a stellar oscillation mode. Ho…
Although tidal dissipation in binary stars has been studied for over a century, theoretical predictions have yet to match the observed properties of binary populations. This work quantitatively examines the recent proposal of tidal circularization by resonance locking, where tidal dissipation arises from resonances between the star's natural oscillation frequencies and harmonics of the orbital frequency, and where resonances are `locked' for an extended period of time due to concurrent stellar evolution. We focus on tidal resonances with axi-symmetric gravity-modes, and examine binaries with p…
A large fraction of known exoplanets have short orbital periods where tidal excitation of gravity waves within the host star causes the planets' orbits to decay. We study the effects of tidal resonance locking, in which the planet locks into resonance with a tidally excited stellar gravity mode. Because a star's gravity mode frequencies typically increase as the star evolves, the planet's orbital frequency increases in lockstep, potentially causing much faster orbital decay than predicted by other tidal theories. Due to nonlinear mode damping, resonance locking in Sun-like stars likely only op…
Heartbeat stars are eccentric binary stars in short period orbits whose light curves are shaped by tidal distortion, reflection, and Doppler beaming. Some heartbeat stars exhibit tidally excited oscillations and present new opportunities for understanding the physics of tidal dissipation within stars. We present detailed methods to compute the forced amplitudes, frequencies, and phases of tidally excited oscillations in eccentric binary systems. Our methods i) factor out the equilibrium tide for easier comparison with observations, ii) account for rotation using the traditional approximation, …
We present the analysis of KIC 8164262, a heartbeat star with a high-amplitude (~1 mmag), tidally resonant pulsation (a mode in resonance with the orbit) at 229 times the orbital frequency and a plethora of tidally induced g-mode pulsations (modes excited by the orbit). The analysis combines Kepler light curves with follow-up spectroscopic data from the Keck telescope, KPNO (Kitt Peak National Observatory) 4-m Mayal telescope and the 2.7-m telescope at the McDonald observatory. We apply the binary modelling software, PHOEBE, to the Kepler light curve and radial velocity data to determine a det…
Over half of all observed hot subdwarf B (sdB) stars are found in binaries, and over half of these are found in close configurations with orbital periods of 10$ \,\rm{d}$ or less. In order to estimate the companion masses in these predominantly single-lined systems, tidal locking has frequently been assumed for sdB binaries with periods less than half a day. Observed non-synchronicity of a number of close sdB binaries challenges that assumption and hence provides an ideal testbed for tidal theory. We solve the second-order differential equations for detailed 1D stellar models of sdB stars to o…
We investigate the nature of tidal effects in compact triple-star systems. The hierarchical structure of a triple system produces tidal forcing at high frequencies unobtainable in binary systems, allowing for the tidal excitation of high frequency p-modes in the stellar components. The tidal forcing exists even for circular, aligned, and synchronized systems. We calculate the magnitude and frequencies of three-body tidal forcing on the central primary star for circular and coplanar orbits, and we estimate the amplitude of the tidally excited oscillation modes. We also calculate the secular orb…
Rotational evolution in young stars is described by pMS evolutionary tracks including rotation, conservation of angular momentum (AM), and simulations of disk-locking (DL). By assuming that DL is the regulation mechanism for the stellar angular velocity during the early stages of pMS, we use our models and observational data to constrain disk lifetimes (Tdisk) of a sample of low-mass stars in the ONC and NGC2264. The period distributions of the ONC and NGC2264 are bimodal and depend on the stellar mass. To follow the rotational evolution of these two clusters' stars, we generated some sets of …
Close-by planets may excite various kinds of oscillations in their host stars through their time-varying tidal potential. Magnetostrophic oscillations with a frequency much smaller than the stellar rotation frequency have recently been proposed to account for the spin-orbit commensurability observed in several planet-hosting stars. In principle, they can be resonantly excited in an isolated slender magnetic flux tube by a Fourier component of the time-varying tidal potential with a very low frequency in the reference frame rotating with the host. However, due to the weakness of such high-order…
Many population synthesis and stellar evolution studies have addressed the evolution of close binary systems in which the primary is a compact remnant and the secondary is filling its Roche lobe, thus triggering mass transfer. Although tidal locking is expected in such systems, most studies have neglected the rotationally-induced mixing that may occur. Here we study the possible effects of mixing in the mass-losing stars for a range in secondary star masses and metallicities. We find that tidal locking can induce rotational mixing prior to contact and thus affect the evolution of the secondary…
We present a sample of ~5,000 RR Lyrae stars selected from the recalibrated LINEAR dataset and detected at heliocentric distances between 5 kpc and 30 kpc over ~8,000 deg^2 of sky. The coordinates and light curve properties, such as period and Oosterhoff type, are made publicly available. We find evidence for the Oosterhoff dichotomy among field RR Lyrae stars, with the ratio of the type II and I subsamples of about 1:4. The number density distribution of halo RRab stars as a function of galactocentric distance can be described as an oblate ellipsoid with the axis ratio q=0.63 and with either …
White dwarfs (WDs) are believed to detonate via explosive Carbon-fusion in a Type Ia Supernova when their temperature and/or density reach the point where Carbon is ignited in a runaway reaction. Observations of the Type Ia supernova (SN) rate imply all WD binaries that merge through the emission of gravitational radiation within a Hubble time should result in SNe, regardless of total mass. Here we investigate the conditions under which a single WD in a binary system might extract energy from its orbit, depositing enough energy into a resonant mode such that it detonates before merger. We show…
The traditional description of the orbital evolution of compact-object binaries, like double white dwarfs (DWDs), assumes that the system is driven only by gravitational wave (GW) radiation. However, the high magnetic fields with intensities of up to gigagauss measured in WDs alert a potential role of the electromagnetic (EM) emission in the evolution of DWDs. We evaluate the orbital dynamics of DWDs under the effects of GW radiation, tidal synchronization, and EM emission by a unipolar inductor generated by the magnetic primary and the relative motion of the non-magnetic secondary. We show th…
Context: A large sample of T Tauri stars exhibits optical jets, approximately half of which rotate slowly, only at ten per cent of their breakup velocity. The disk-locking mechanism has been shown to be inefficient to explain this observational fact. Aims: We show that low mass accreting T Tauri stars may have a strong stellar jet component that can effectively brake the star to the observed rotation speed. Methods: By means of a nonlinear separation of the variables in the full set of the MHD equations we construct semi- analytical solutions describing the dynamics and topology of the stellar…
The class of Double Period Variables (DPVs) consists of close interacting binaries, with a characteristic long period that is an order of magnitude longer than the corresponding orbital period, many of them with a characteristic ratio of about 3.5x10^1. We consider here the possibility that the accretion flow is modulated as a result of a magnetic dynamo cycle. Due to the short binary separations, we expect the rotation of the donor star to be synchronized with the rotation of the binary due to tidal locking. We here present a model to estimate the dynamo number and the resulting relation betw…
The Beauty of k2: Probing Stellar Interiors Using Apsidal Motion. I. The Benchmark Massive Binary HD 152248
University of Geneva（日内瓦大学）；Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Astronomisches Rechen-Institut（海德堡大学天文学中心，天文计算研究所）；Keele University（基尔大学）；Kavli IPMU (WPI), The University of Tokyo（东京大学 Kavli 宇宙粒子与宇宙学前沿研究中心（WPI））
