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Lydia Cidale

Publications and source records attributed to Lydia Cidale.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Preservaci\'on de la memoria colectiva-cient\'ifica, en la astronom\'ia argentina, desde el Observatorio de La Plata

This work describes the rescue and enhancement of several thousand spectrophotometric plates from the La Plata Observatory. These plates and their attached handwritten documents, date from the beginning of the 20th century and contain information on observations made at different observatories around the world. Due to their fragility and the inevitable deterioration produced by the passage of time, they are being cleaned up, recovered and digitized. The information contained in the plates has a high scientific value and, based on a comparison of an old spectrum with a current one, part of the history of the star can be reconstructed. Through the ReTrOH project, we seek to translate the document into an appropriate format, preserve and disseminate that knowledge, and also recover the scientific project and the historical and personal context of the observers. The digitized spectra are available in the virtual repository (SEDICI) of the UNLP.

astro-ph.IM

Large-Scale Ejecta of Z CMa -- Proper Motion Study and New Features Discovered

Z Canis Majoris is a fascinating early-type binary with a Herbig Be primary and a FU Orionis-type secondary. Both of the stars exhibit sub-arcsecond jet-like ejecta. In addition, the primary is associated with the extended jet as well as with the large-scale outflow. In this study, we investigate further the nature of the large-scale outflow, which has not been studied since its discovery almost three and a half decades ago. We present proper motion measurements of individual features of the large-scale outflow and determine their kinematical ages. Furthermore, with our newly acquired deep images, we have discovered additional faint arc-shaped features that can be associated with the central binary.

astro-ph.SR

A peculiar interacting Be star binary in the Small Magellanic Cloud

We find that the emission line object OGLEJ005039.05-725751.4, a member of the cluster OGLE-CL SMC 64, exhibits a peculiar light curve pattern repeating with a recurrence time of 141.45 days. The light curve resembles periodic outbursts with a duty cycle of 20%. A second long-cycle of 2500 days is also detected in the photometric dataset. Two X-SHOOTER spectra obtained at minimum and maximum reveal a Be star dominating at minimum light resembling the Classical Be star 48 Lib. The larger H$\alpha$ emission, the stronger NaD absorption and the appearance of emission in the infrared Ca II triplet at maximum, might indicate periodic mass transfer in a complex binary system.

astro-ph.SR

Co-existence and switching between fast and $\Omega$-slow wind solutions in rapidly rotating massive stars

Most radiatively-driven massive star winds can be modelled with m-CAK theory resulting in so called fast solution. However, those most rapidly rotating among them, especially when the stellar rotational speed is higher than $\sim 75\%$ of the critical rotational speed, can adopt a different solution called $\Omega$-slow solution characterized by a dense and slow wind. Here, in this work we study the transition region of the solutions where the fast solution changes to the $\Omega$-slow. Using both time-steady and time-dependent numerical codes, we study this transition region for different equatorial models of B-type stars. In all the cases, at certain range of rotational speeds, we found a region where the fast and $\Omega$-slow solution can co-exist. We find that the type of solution obtained in this co-existence region depends heavily on the initial conditions of our models. We also test the stability of the solutions within the co-existence region by performing base density perturbations in the wind. We find that under certain conditions, the fast solution can switch to a $\Omega$-slow solution, or vice versa. Such solution switching may be a possible contributor of material injected into the circumstellar environment of Be stars, without requiring rotational speeds near critical values.

astro-ph.SR

Discovery of SiO band emission from Galactic B[e] supergiants

B[e] supergiants (B[e]SGs) are evolved massive stars in a short-lived transition phase. During this phase, these objects eject large amounts of material, which accumulates in a circumstellar disk-like structure. The expelled material is typically dense and cool, providing the cradle for molecule and dust condensation and for a rich, ongoing chemistry. Very little is known about the chemical composition of these disks, beyond the emission from dust and CO revolving around the star on Keplerian orbits. As massive stars preserve an oxygen-rich surface composition throughout their life, other oxygen-based molecules can be expected to form. As SiO is the second most stable oxygen compound, we initiated an observing campaign to search for first-overtone SiO emission bands. We obtained high-resolution near-infrared L-band spectra for a sample of Galactic B[e]SGs with reported CO band emission. We clearly detect emission from the SiO first-overtone bands in CPD-52 9243 and indications for faint emission in HD 62623, HD 327083, and CPD-57 2874. From model fits, we find that in all these stars the SiO bands are rotationally broadened with a velocity lower than observed in the CO band forming regions, suggesting that SiO forms at larger distances from the star. Hence, searching for and analyzing these bands is crucial for studying the structure and kinematics of circumstellar disks, because they trace complementary regions to the CO band formation zone. Moreover, since SiO molecules are the building blocks for silicate dust, their study might provide insight in the early stage of dust formation.

astro-ph.SR

Pulsations as a mass-loss trigger in evolved hot stars

During the post-main sequence evolution massive stars pass through several short-lived phases, in which they experience enhanced mass loss in the form of clumped winds and mass ejection events of unclear origin. The discovery that stars populating the blue, luminous part of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram can pulsate hence suggests that stellar pulsations might influence or trigger enhanced mass loss and eruptions. We present recent results for two objects in different phases: a B[e] star at the end of the main sequence and a B-type supergiant.

astro-ph.SR

Molecular emission from GG Car's circumbinary disk

The appearance of the B[e] phenomenon in evolved massive stars such as B[e] supergiants is still a mystery. While these stars are generally found to have disks that are cool and dense enough for efficient molecule and dust condensation, the origin of the disk material is still unclear. We aim at studying the kinematics and origin of the disk in the eccentric binary system GG Car, whose primary component is proposed to be a B[e] supergiant. Based on medium- and high-resolution near-infrared spectra we analyzed the CO-band emission detected from GG Car. The complete CO-band structure delivers information on the density and temperature of the emitting region, and the detectable 13CO bands allow us to constrain the evolutionary phase. In addition, the kinematics of the CO gas can be extracted from the shape of the first 12CO band head. We find that the CO gas is located in a ring surrounding the eccentric binary system, and its kinematics agrees with Keplerian rotation with a velocity, projected to the line of sight, of (80\pm 1) km/s. The CO ring has a column density of (5\pm 3)x10^21 cm^-2 and a temperature of 3200\pm 500 K. In addition, the material is chemically enriched in 13CO, which agrees with the primary component being slightly evolved off the main sequence. We discuss two possible scenarios for the origin of the circumbinary disk: (i) non-conservative Roche lobe overflow, and (ii) the possibility that the progenitor of the primary component could have been a classical Be star. Neither can be firmly excluded, but for Roche lobe overflow to occur, a combination of stellar and orbital parameter extremawould be required.

astro-ph.SR

Stars with the B[e] phenomenon seen by long baseline interferometry

Thanks to the high spatial resolution provided by long baseline interferometry, it is possible to understand the complex circumstellar geometry around stars with the B[e] phenomenon. These stars are composed by objects in different evolutionary stages, like high- and low-mass evolved stars, intermediate-mass pre-main sequence stars and symbiotic objects. However, up to now more than 50% of the confirmed B[e] stars are not well classified, being called unclassified B[e] stars. From instruments like VLTI/AMBER and VLTI/MIDI, we have identified the presence of gaseous and dusty circumstellar disks, which have provided us with some hints related to the nature of these objects. Here, we show our results for two galactic stars with the B[e] phenomenon, HD 50138 and CPD-529243, based on interferometric measurements.

astro-ph.SR

Limb-Darkened Radiation-Driven Winds from Massive Stars

We calculated the influence of the limb-darkened finite disk correction factor in the theory of radiation-driven winds from massive stars. We solved the 1-D m-CAK hydrodynamical equation of rotating radiation-driven winds for all three known solutions, i.e., fast, Ω-slow and δ-slow. We found that for the fast solution, the mass loss rate is increased by a factor \sim 10%, while the terminal velocity is reduced about 10%, when compared with the solution using a finite disk correction factor from a uniformly bright star. For the other two slow solutions the changes are almost negligible. Although, we found that the limb darkening has no effects on the wind momentum luminosity relationship, it would affect the calculation of synthetic line profiles and the derivation of accurate wind parameters.

astro-ph.SR

Radiation driven winds with rotation: The oblate finite disc correction factor

We have incorporated the oblate distortion of the shape of the star due to the stellar rotation, which modifies the finite disk correction factor (f_D) in the m-CAK hydrodynamical model. We implement a simplified version for the f_D allowing us to solve numerically the non-linear m- CAK momentum equation.We solve this model for a classical Be star in the polar and equatorial directions. The star's oblateness modifies the polar wind, which is now much faster than the spherical one, mainly because the wind receives radiation from a larger (than the spherical) stellar surface. In the equatorial direction we obtain slow solutions, which are even slower and denser than the spherical ones. For the case when the stellar rotational velocity is about the critical velocity, the most remarkable result of our calculations is that the density contrast between the equatorial density and the polar one, is about 100. This result could explain a long-standing problem on Be stars.

astro-ph.SR

The Slow Winds of A-Type Supergiants

The line driven- and rotation modulated-wind theory predicts an alternative slow solution, besides from the standard m-CAK solution, when the rotational velocity is close to the critical velocity. We study the behaviour of the winds of A-type supergiants (Asg) and show that under particular conditions, e.g., when the δline-force parameter is about 0.25, the slow solution could exist over the whole star, even for the cases when the rotational speed is slow or zero. We discuss density and velocity profiles as well as possible observational counterparts.

astro-ph.SR

Outflowing disk winds in B[e] Supergiants

The effects of rapid rotation and bi--stability upon the density contrast between the equatorial and polar directions of a B[e] supergiant are investigated. Based on a new slow solution for different high rotational radiation--driven winds and the fact that bi--stability allows a change in the line--force parameters ($α$, $k$, and $δ$), the equatorial densities are about $10^2$--$10^3$ times higher than the polar ones. These values are in qualitative agreement with the observations. This calculation also permits to obtain the aperture angle of the disk.

astro-ph

Evolution of Galactic Field be Stars

Galactic field Be stars were studied by taking into account the effects induced by the fast rotation on their fundamental parameters. Fractional ages $τ/τ\_{\rm MS}$ ($τ\_{\rm MS}$ = time spent in the MS) against stellar mass reveal that: a) Be stars spread over the whole interval $0<τ/τ\_{\rm MS}<1$; b) the Be phenomenon in massive stars ($M>12M\_{\odot}$) is present at smaller age ratios than for less massive stars ($M<12M\_{\odot}$); c) there is a lack of Be stars with $M<7M\_{\odot}$ in the first half of the MS. Low mass fast rotators ($M<7M\_{\odot}$), called Bn stars, could be "becoming" Be stars.

astro-ph

Properties of Regions Forming the FeII Emission Lines in Be Stars

We study FeII and Balmer hydrogen emission lines observed simultaneously of 18 southern Be stars. We use the self-absorption-curve method (SAC) to determine the optical depth regime of FeII emission lines and to derive first insights on the physical properties of their forming regions.

astro-ph