RZ Cas: First spectroscopic detection of short-term pulsations in an Algol system
H. Lehmann1, D. Mkrtichian2
1 Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Germany
2 Odessa National University, Astronomical Observatory, Ukraine
The eclipsing binary RZ Cas is an active semi-detached Algol system showing
complex features in its light-curve and in radial velocities. Its
primary minimum is a partial eclipse (Narusawa et al. 1994) and its light-curve
is distorted by star spots (e.g. Varricatt et al. 1998) and possibly by
non-symmetric circumstellar matter (Olson 1982). Short-period light
variability with a frequency of 64 c/day was reported by
several authors (e.g. Ohshima et al. 1998, Rodriguez et al. 2002).
In 2001 D.M. organized a multi-site campaign including
photometric and spectroscopic observations of RZ Cas. In this paper, we report
on first preliminary results obtained from the radial velocities of RZ Cas
measured from
time series of high-resolution echelle spectra taken at the Tautenburg
2m-telescope. These spectra allowed for a very precise determination of the
binary orbit. The
orbital curve very clearly shows the anomalous Schlesinger-Rossiter effect during
primary minimum and, in the orbital residuals,
a complex mixing of RV contributions from a large frequency range.
In a first attempt we concentrate on short-term variations possibly
caused by
pulsations and subtract the orbital curve and all low-frequency
contributions which are probably related to the time scales of orbital motion
and/or rotation from the radial velocities. From the cleaned RVs we extract at
least two short-period oscillations with frequencies of 56.6 and 64.2 c/d.
An empirical false-alarm probability distribution computed from our data set
proves the significance of the obtained variations. Both frequencies can also
be found in parallel photometric observations.
The second frequency dominated the oscillations in all previous observations of
the star.
It was observed in the brightness fluctuations of RZ Cas by Ohshima et al. (2001),
Rodriguez et al. (2002), and Mkrtichian et al. (2002).
During 2001, the amplitude of this oscillation decreased by an order of magnitude
and is now comparable to the 56.6 c/d variation.
So we conclude that the star was apparently monoperiodic and became multi-periodic
in 2001.
Print this abstract
Last changed: 2002/Jun/25
©1996-2002 CAUP
|