MOBSTER: Identifying Candidate Magnetic O Stars through Rotational Modulation of TESS Photometry
James Barron, Gregg A. Wade, Dominic M. Bowman, Alexandre David-Uraz, Melissa S. Munoz, Herbert Pablo, Sergio Simón-Díaz
备注：
9 pages, 4 figures, Conference proceedings: "Stellar Magnetic Fields - A workshop in honour of the career and contributions of John Landstreet", London, Canada, July 2019 (to be published in the Proceedings of the Polish Astronomical Society)
Being relatively rare, the properties of magnetic O stars are not fully understood. To date fewer than a dozen of these stars have been confirmed, making any inference of their global properties uncertain due to small number statistics. To better understand these objects it is necessary to increase the known sample. The MOBSTER collaboration aims to do this by identifying candidate magnetic O, B, and A stars from the identification of rotational modulation in high-precision photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Here we discuss the collaboration's efforts to detect rotational modulation in TESS targets to identify candidate magnetic O stars for future spectropolarimetric observations.
In this paper we introduce the MOBSTER collaboration and lay out its scientific goals. We present first results based on the analysis of nineteen previously known magnetic O, B and A stars observed in 2-minute cadence in sectors 1 and 2 of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. We derive precise rotational periods from the newly obtained light curves and compare them to previously published values. We also discuss the overall photometric phenomenology of the known magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars and propose an observational strategy to augment this population by…
In this contribution, we present the MOBSTER Collaboration, a large community effort to leverage high-precision photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (\textit{TESS}) in order to characterize the variability of magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars. These data can be used to probe the varying column density of magnetospheric plasma along the line of sight for OB stars, thus improving our understanding of the interaction between surface magnetic fields and massive star winds. They can also be used to map out the brightness inhomogeneities present on the surfaces of Ap/…
Recently, high-precision optical 2~min cadence light curves obtained with \emph{TESS} for targets located in the mission's defined first four sectors have been released. The majority of these high-cadence and high-precision measurements currently span $\sim28\,{\rm d}$, thereby allowing periodic variability occurring on timescales $\lesssim14\,{\rm d}$ to potentially be detected. Magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) A-type stars are well known to exhibit rotationally modulated photometric variability that is produced by inhomogeneous chemical abundance distributions in their atmospheres. While m…
Magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars constitute a separate population whose properties are still not fully understood. Increasing the sample of known objects of this type would help answer fundamental questions regarding the origins and characteristics of their magnetic fields. The MOBSTER Collaboration seeks to identify candidate magnetic A, B and O stars and explore the incidence and origins of photometric rotational modulation using high-precision photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (\textit{TESS}) mission. In this contribution, we present an overview of our me…
In this paper, we present results from the spectropolarimetric follow-up of photometrically selected candidate magnetic B stars from the MOBSTER project. Out of four observed targets, one (HD 38170) is found to host a detectable surface magnetic field, with a maximum longitudinal field measurement of 105$\pm$14 G. This star is chemically peculiar and classified as an $α^2$ CVn variable. Its detection validates the use of TESS to perform a photometric selection of magnetic candidates. Furthermore, upper limits on the strength of a putative dipolar magnetic field are derived for the remaining th…
HD 156424 (B2 V) is a little-studied magnetic hot star in the Sco OB4 association, previously noted to display both high-frequency radial velocity (RV) variability and magnetospheric H$α$ emission. We have analysed the TESS light curve, and find that it is a $β$ Cep pulsator with 11 detectable frequencies, 4 of which are independent $p$-modes. The strongest frequency is also detectable in RVs from ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy. RVs also show a long-term variation, suggestive of orbital motion with a period of $\sim$years; significant differences in the frequencies determined from T…
HD 62658 (B9p V) is a little-studied chemically peculiar star. Light curves obtained by the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) show clear eclipses with a period of about 4.75 d, as well as out-of-eclipse brightness modulation with the same 4.75 d period, consistent with synchronized rotational modulation of surface chemical spots. High-resolution ESPaDOnS circular spectropolarimetry shows a clear Zeeman signature in the line profile of the primary; there is no indication of a magnetic field in the secondary. PHOEBE modelling of the lig…
TESS photometry of the extremely helium-rich hot subdwarfs BD+37 442 and BD+37 1977 demonstrates multi-periodic low-amplitude variability with principal periods of 0.56 and 1.14 d, respectively, and with both first and second harmonics present. The lightcurves are not perfectly regular, implying additional periodic and/or non-periodic content. Possible causes are examined, including the binary hypothesis originally introduced to explain X-ray observations, differentially rotating surface inhomogeneities, and pulsations. If the principal photometric periods correspond to the rotation periods, t…
PV Tel variables are extreme helium (EHe) stars known to be intrinsic light and velocity variable on characteristic timescales 0.1 - 2 d. With two exceptions, they are best described as irregular. Light curves have invariably been obtained from single-site terrestrial observatories. We present TESS observations of two bright EHe stars, Popper's star (V821 Cen) and Thackeray's star (PV Tel). PV Tel is variable on timescales previously reported. V821 Cen is proven to be variable for the first time. Neither light curve shows any evidence of underlying regularity. Implications are considered.
MaGiV-1 is a candidate triple ellipsoidal star system in Vulpecula at coordinates RA(J2000) 19:52:19.13 DEC(J2000) +23:29:59.7 classified as ELL+ELL, number 2344411 in AAVSO VSX database. Through photometry from the TESS Space Telescope, two significant periods describing the orbital times of the components were identified using the Fourier transform. The analysis led to determining P(A-BC) = 4.269d the orbital period of A-BC pair, the primary component with the secondary component described by another pair, and P(BC) = 0.610d the orbital period of B-C pair, the inner ellipsoidal system. Howev…
The TESS space mission provides us with high-precision photometric observations of bright stars over more than 70% of the entire sky, allowing us to revisit and characterise well-known stars. We aim to conduct an asteroseismic analysis of the gamma Doradus star HD112429 using both the available ground-based spectroscopy and TESS photometry, and assess the conditions required to measure the near-core rotation rate and buoyancy travel time. We collect and reduce the available five sectors of short-cadence TESS photometry of this star, as well as 672 legacy observations from six medium- to high-r…
HS 2325+8205 is a long-period eclipsing dwarf nova with an orbital period above the period gap (Porb>3 h) and is reported to be a Z Cam-type dwarf nova. Based on the photometry of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the light variation and the quasi-periodic oscillation (QPOs) of HS 2325+8205 are studied. Using Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT), Lomb-Scargle Periodogram (LSP), and sine fitting methods, we find for the first time that there is a QPOs of ~ 2160s in the long outburst top light curves of HS 2325+8205. Moreover, we find that the oscillation intensity of the QPOs of H…
AI Hya has been known as an eclipsing binary with a monoperiodic $δ$ Sct pulsator. We present the results from its {\it TESS} photometry observed during Sector 7. Including our five minimum epochs, the eclipse timing diagram displays the apsidal motion with a rate of $\dotω$ = 0.075$\pm$0.031 deg year$^{-1}$, which corresponds to an apsidal period of U = 4800$\pm$2000 years. The binary star model represents that the smaller, less massive primary component is 427 K hotter than the pulsating secondary, and our distance of 612$\pm$36 pc is in good agreement with the $Gaia$ distance of 644$\pm$26 …
In a few years the Kepler and TESS missions will provide ultra-precise photometry for thousands of RR Lyrae and hundreds of Cepheid stars. In the extended Kepler mission all targets are proposed in the Guest Observer (GO) Program, while the TESS space telescope will work with full frame images and a ~15-16th mag brightness limit with the possibility of short cadence measurements for a limited number of pre-selected objects. This paper highlights some details of the enormous and important work of the target selection process made by the members of Working Group 7 (WG#7) of the Kepler and TESS A…
We present TESS photometry of the asynchronous polar BY Cam, which undergoes a beat-cycle between the 199.384-min white dwarf (WD) spin period and the 201.244-min orbital period. This results in changes in the flow of matter onto the WD. The TESS light curve covers 92% of the beat cycle once and 71% of the beat cycle twice. The strongest photometric signal, at 197.560-min, is ascribed to a side-band period. During times of light-curve stability, the photometry modulates at the spin frequency, supporting our WD spin-period identification. Both one-pole and two-pole accretion configurations repe…
We present a multi-instrument analysis of the rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) star HD 42659. We have obtained $B$ photometric data for this star and use these data, in conjunction with TESS observations, to analyse the high-frequency pulsation in detail. We find a triplet which is split by the rotation frequency of the star ($ν_{\rm rot}=0.3756$ d$^{-1}$; $P_{\rm rot}=2.66$ d) and present both distorted dipole and distorted quadrupole mode models. We show that the pulsation frequency, $150.9898$ d$^{-1}$ ($P_{\rm puls}=9.54$ min) is greater than the acoustic cutoff frequency. We utilise 27 high-…
Large-scale variability in macroturbulence driven by pulsations in the rapidly rotating massive star Zeta Oph from high-cadence ESPRESSO spectroscopy and TESS photometry
High-precision K2/TESS Photometry and HERMES Spectroscopy of Four Bright Field Stars
Mbarara University of Science and Technology（姆巴拉拉科技大学）；Kyambogo University（坎博戈大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung（马克斯·普朗克太阳系研究所）；Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences（阿亚班达观测科学研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik（马克斯·普朗克天体物理研究所）；Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven（鲁汶大学天文研究所）；Royal Observatory of Belgium（比利时皇家天文台）
The TESS spacecraft observed the asynchronous polar CD Ind at a two-minute cadence almost continuously for 28 days in 2018, covering parts of 5 consecutive cycles of the system's 7.3-day beat period. These observations provide the first uninterrupted photometry of a full spin-orbit beat cycle of an asynchronous polar. Twice per beat cycle, the accretion flow switched between magnetic poles on the white dwarf, causing the spin pulse of the white dwarf (WD) to alternate between two waveforms after each pole-switch. An analysis of the waveforms suggests that one accretion region is continuously v…
Over the last two decades, asteroseismology has increasingly proven to be the observational tool of choice for the study of stellar physics, aided by the high quality of data available from space-based missions such as CoRoT, Kepler, K2 and TESS. TESS in particular will produce more than an order of magnitude more such data than has ever been available before. While the standard TESS mission products include light curves from 120-sec observations suitable for both exoplanet and asteroseismic studies, they do not include light curves for the vastly larger number of targets observed by the missi…
Context. Massive stars are predicted to excite internal gravity waves (IGWs) by turbulent core convection and from turbulent pressure fluctuations in their near-surface layers. These IGWs are extremely efficient at transporting angular momentum and chemical species within stellar interiors, but they remain largely unconstrained observationally. Aims. We aim to characterise the photometric detection of IGWs across a large number of O and early-B stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and explain the ubiquitous detection of stochastic variability in the photospheres of massive stars. Methods.…
The Birth of Be Star Disks II. A High-Resolution Spectroscopic Campaign and TESS Observations of an Outburst of the Classical Be star λ Pavonis
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University（埃默里-里德尔航空大学）；DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark（丹麦技术大学空间中心）；LIRA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CY Cergy Paris Université（巴黎天文台LIRA实验室，巴黎文理研究大学，法国国家科学研究中心，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学，CY塞尔吉-蓬图瓦兹大学）
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is the first high-precision full-sky photometry survey in space. We present light curves from a magnitude limited set of stars and other stationary luminous objects from the TESS Full Frame Images, as reduced by the MIT Quick Look Pipeline (QLP). Our light curves cover the full two-year TESS Primary Mission and include $\sim$ 14,770,000 and $\sim$ 9,600,000 individual light curve segments in the Southern and Northern ecliptic hemispheres, respectively. We describe the photometry and detrending techniques we used to create the light curves, and c…
Stellar RV jitter due to surface activity may bias the RV semi-amplitude and mass of rocky planets. The amplitude of the jitter may be estimated from the uncertainty in the rotation period, allowing the mass to be more accurately obtained. We find candidate rotation periods for 17 out of 35 TESS Objects of Interest (TOI) hosting <3 R_Earth planets as part of the Magellan-TESS Survey, which is the first-ever statistically robust study of exoplanet masses and radii across the photo-evaporation gap. Seven periods are 3+ sigma detections, two are 1.5+ sigma, and 8 show plausible variability but th…
In this paper, we present the results from spectroscopic and photometric observations of the M-type flare star YZ CMi in the framework of the Optical and Infrared Synergetic Telescopes for Education and Research (OISTER) collaborations during the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observation period. We detected 145 white-light flares from the TESS light curve and 4 H$α$ flares from the OISTER observations performed between 2019-01-16 and 2019-01-18. Among them, 3 H$α$ flares were associated with white-light flares. However, one of them did not show clear brightening in continuum; du…
We report photometry and spectroscopy of the outburst of the young stellar object ESO-Halpha 99. The outburst was first noticed in Gaia alert Gaia18dvc and later by ATLAS. We have established the outburst light curve with archival ATLAS ``Orange'' filter photometry, Gaia data, new V-band photometry, and J, H, and K_s photometry from IRIS and UKIRT. The brightness has fluctuated several times near the light curve maximum. The TESS satellite observed ESO-Halpha 99 with high cadence during one of these minor minima and found brightness fluctuations on timescales of days and hours. Imaging with UK…
QLP Data Release Notes 004: TESS-Gaia Light Curve Photometry Implementation
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院卡弗里天体物理与空间研究所）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, The University of California, Irvine（加州大学尔湾分校物理与天文学系）
Spectroscopic data are necessary to break degeneracies in asteroseismic modelling of the interior structure in high- and intermediate-mass stars. We derive precise photospheric stellar parameters for a sample of 166 B-type stars with TESS light curves, suitable for detailed asteroseismic studies, through a homogeneous spectroscopic analysis. The variability types of these stars are classified based on all currently available TESS sectors. We obtained high-resolution spectra for all 166 targets with the FEROS spectrograph in the context of a large program. The Least-Squares Deconvolution method…
The symphony of pulsations and binarity among massive stars using HERMES spectroscopy and TESS photometry
Newcastle University（纽卡斯尔大学）；KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学）；Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学）；Royal Observatory of Belgium（比利时皇家天文台）；Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院尼古拉·哥白尼天文学中心）
In photometry of $γ$ Cas (B0.5 IVe) from the SMEI and BRITE-Constellation satellites, indications of low-order non-radial pulsation have recently been found, which would establish an important commonality with the class of classical Be stars at large. New photometry with the TESS satellite has detected three frequency groups near 1.0 ($g1$), 2.4 ($g2$), and 5.1 ($g3$) d$^{-1}$, respectively. Some individual frequencies are nearly harmonics or combination frequencies but not exactly so. Frequency groups are known from roughly three quarters of all classical Be stars and also from pulsations of …
Doppler imaging combined with high-cadence photometry. I. Revisiting the surface of a pre-main-sequence flare star
Kyoto University（京都大学）；Ankara University（安卡拉大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung（马克斯·普朗克太阳系研究所）；Hitotsubashi University（一桥大学）；The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University（京都大学哈库比高级研究中心）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心）；The Catholic University of America（美利坚天主教大学）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory, University of Hyogo（兵库县立西播磨天文台）
We present analysis of the starspot properties and chromospheric activity on HD 134319 using high precision photometry by TESS in sectors 14-16 (T1), 21-23 (T2) and high-resolution spectroscopy by OHP/ELODIE and Keck/HIRES during years 1995-2013. We applied a two-spot model with GLS determined period $P=4.436391\pm0.00137$ day to model chunks sliding over TESS light curve, and measured relative equivalent widths of Ca II H and K, H$β$ and H$α$ emissions by subtracting overall spectrum from individual spectrum. It was found that a two-spot configuration, i.e. a primary, slowly evolving and long…
Unveiling the properties of pulsating low-mass helium-core white dwarfs through TESS asteroseismology I. First results
Universidad Nacional de La Plata（拉普拉塔国立大学）；CONICET-UNLP（阿根廷国家科学研究委员会-拉普拉塔国立大学）；City University of New York Graduate Center（纽约市立大学研究生院）；KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；Queens College, City University of New York（纽约市立大学皇后学院）；Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya（加泰罗尼亚理工大学）；Boston University（波士顿大学）
$γ$ Doradus is the prototype star for the eponymous class of pulsating stars that consists of late A-early F main-sequence stars oscillating in low-frequency gravito-inertial modes. Being among the brightest stars of its kind (V = 4.2), $γ$ Dor benefits from a large set of observational data that has been recently completed by high-quality space photometry from the TESS mission. With these new data, we propose to study $γ$ Dor as an example of possibilities offered by synergies between multi-technical ground and space-based observations. Here, we present the preliminary results of our investig…
Chemically peculiar (CP) stars with a measurable magnetic field comprise the group of mCP stars. The pulsating members define the subgroup of rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) stars, of which Alpha Circini is the brightest member. Hence, Alpha Circini allows the application of challenging techniques, such as interferometry, very high temporal and spectral resolution photometry, and spectroscopy in a wide wavelength range, that have the potential to provide unique information about the structure and evolution of a star. Based on new photometry from BRITE-Constellation, obtained with blue and red fi…
The upcoming NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will obtain space-based uninterrupted light curves for a large sample of bright white dwarfs distributed across the entire sky, providing a very rich resource for asteroseismological studies and the search for transits from planetary debris. We have compiled an all-sky catalogue of ultraviolet, optical, and infrared photometry as well as proper motions, which we propose as an essential tool for the preliminary identification and characterisation of potential targets. We present data for 1864 known white dwarfs and 305 high-probabil…
