arXiv subjects

M. Latour

Publications and source records attributed to M. Latour.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Heavy-metal enrichment of intermediate He-sdOB stars: the pulsators Feige 46 and LS IV -14 116 revisited

Hot subdwarf stars of types O and B represent a poorly understood phase in the evolution of low-mass stars. Many subdwarfs show rich oscillations and are among the most chemically peculiar stars known. Two intermediate He-rich hot subdwarf stars, LS IV-14$^\circ$116 and Feige 46, are particularly interesting, because they show extreme enrichments of heavy elements such as Ge, Sr, Y, and Zr, strikingly similar in both stars. Also their light oscillations are similar, but occur at periods incompatible with standard pulsation theory. We investigate the metal abundances in both stars and validate the pulsations in Feige 46 using its recent TESS light curve. High-resolution spectroscopy is combined with non-LTE model atmospheres calculated with Tlusty and Synspec to determine metal abundances consistently. Many lines are identified with transitions originating from Ga III, Ge III-IV, Se III, Kr III, Sr II-III, Y III, Zr III-IV, and Sn IV, most of which have not been observed so far in any star. The abundances of 19 metals in both stars are almost identical, light metals being slightly more abundant in Feige 46 while Zr, Sn, and Pb are slightly less enhanced compared to LS IV$-$14$^\circ$116. Both abundance patterns are distinctively different from those of He-poor subdwarfs of similar temperature. The enrichment in heavy metals of more than 4 dex compared to the Sun is likely the result of strong atmospheric diffusion processes while the stars' similar patterns of C, N, O, and Ne abundances might provide clues to their as yet unclear evolutionary history. Finally, we find that the periods of the pulsation modes in Feige 46 are stable to better than $\dot{P} \lesssim 10^{-8}$ s/s. This is not compatible with $\dot P$ predicted for pulsations driven by the $ε$-mechanism and excited by helium-shell flashes in a star which is evolving, for example, onto the extended horizontal branch.

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arXiv2020

Leveraging HST with MUSE: I. Sodium abundance variations within the 2 Gyr-old cluster NGC 1978

Nearly all of the well studied ancient globular clusters (GCs), in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies, show star-to-star variations in specific elements (e.g., He, C, N, O, Na, Al), known as "multiple populations" (MPs). However, MPs are not restricted to ancient clusters, with massive clusters down to $\sim2$ Gyr showing signs of chemical variations. This suggests that young and old clusters share the same formation mechanism but most of the work to date on younger clusters has focused on N-variations. Initial studies even suggested that younger clusters may not host spreads in other elements beyond N (e.g., Na), calling into question whether these abundance variations share the same origin as in the older GCs. In this work, we combine HST photometry with VLT/MUSE spectroscopy of a large sample of RGB stars (338) in the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 1978, the youngest globular to date with reported MPs in the form of N-spreads. By combining the spectra of individual RGB stars into N-normal and N-enhanced samples, based on the "chromosome map" derived from HST, we search for mean abundance variations. Based on the NaD line, we find a Na-difference of $Δ$[Na/Fe]$=0.07\pm0.01$ between the populations. While this difference is smaller than typically found in ancient GCs (which may suggest a correlation with age), this result further confirms that the MP phenomenon is the same, regardless of cluster age and host galaxy. As such, these young clusters offer some of the strictest tests for theories on the origin of MPs.

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arXiv2019

A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE: Multiple populations chemistry in NGC 2808

Galactic globular clusters (GCs) are now known to host multiple populations displaying particular abundance variations. The different populations within a GC can be well distinguished following their position in the pseudo two-colors diagrams, also referred to as "chromosome maps". These maps are constructed using optical and near-UV photometry available from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UV survey of GCs. However, the chemical tagging of the various populations in the chromosome maps is hampered by the fact that HST photometry and elemental abundances are both available only for a limited number of stars. The spectra collected as part of the MUSE survey of globular clusters provide a spectroscopic counterpart to the HST photometric catalogs covering the central regions of GCs. In this paper, we use the MUSE spectra of 1115 red giant branch (RGB) stars in NGC 2808 to characterize the abundance variations seen in the multiple populations of this cluster. We use the chromosome map of NGC 2808 to divide the RGB stars into their respective populations. We then combine the spectra of all stars belonging to a given population, resulting in one high signal-to-noise ratio spectrum representative of each population. Variations in the spectral lines of O, Na, Mg, and Al are clearly detected among four of the populations. In order to quantify these variations, we measured equivalent width differences and created synthetic populations spectra that were used to determine abundance variations with respect to the primordial population of the cluster. Our results are in good agreement with the values expected from previous studies based on high-resolution spectroscopy. We do not see any significant variations in the spectral lines of Ca, K, and Ba. We also do not detect abundance variations among the stars belonging to the primordial population of NGC 2808.

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arXiv2019

Discovery of a second pulsating intermediate helium-enriched sdOB star

We present the discovery of long-period, low-amplitude, g-mode pulsations in the intermediate He-rich hot subdwarf (sdOB) star Feige 46. Up until now only one other He-enriched sdOB star (LS IV -14116) was known to exhibit such pulsations. From our ground-based light curves of Feige 46, we extracted five independent periodicities ranging from 2294 s to 3400 s. We fitted our low-resolution, high signal-to-noise optical spectrum of the star with our grid of non-LTE model atmospheres and derived the following atmospheric parameters: Teff = 36120 $\pm$ 230 K, log g = 5.93 $\pm$ 0.04 and log N(He)/N(H) = -0.32 $\pm$ 0.03 (formal fitting errors only). These parameters are very similar to those of LS IV -14116 and place Feige 46 well outside of the instability strip where the hydrogen-rich g-mode sdB pulsators are found. We used the Gaia parallax and proper motion of Feige 46 to perform a kinematic analysis of this star and found that it likely belongs to the Galactic halo population. This is most certainly an intriguing and interesting result given that LS IV -14116 is also a halo object. The mechanism responsible for the pulsations in these two peculiar objects remains unclear but a possible scenario involves the $ε$-mechanism. Although they are the only two members in their class of variable stars, these pulsators appear to have more in common than just their pulsation properties.

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arXiv2018

Rotational broadening and conservation of angular momentum in post-extreme horizontal branch stars

We show that the recent realization that isolated post-extreme horizontal branch (post-EHB) stars are generally characterized by rotational broadening with values of $V_{\rm rot} \sin i$ between 25 and 30 km~s$^{-1}$ can be explained as a natural consequence of the conservation of angular momentum from the previous He-core burning phase on the EHB. The progenitors of these evolved objects, the EHB stars, are known to be slow rotators with an average value of $V_{\rm rot} \sin i$ of $\sim$7.7 km~s$^{-1}$. This implies significant spin-up between the EHB and post-EHB phases. Using representative evolutionary models of hot subdwarf stars, we demonstrate that angular momentum conservation in uniformly rotating strutures (rigid-body rotation) boosts that value of the projected equatorial rotation speed by a factor $\sim$3.6 by the time the model has reached the region of the surface gravity-effective temperature plane where the newly-studied post-EHB objects are found. This is exactly what is needed to account for their observed atmospheric broadening. We note that the decrease of the moment of inertia causing the spin-up is mostly due to the redistribution of matter that produces more centrally-condensed structures in the post-EHB phase of evolution, not to the decrease of the radius per se.

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arXiv2017

Spectral analysis of four surprisingly similar hot hydrogen-rich subdwarf O stars

We perform a comprehensive spectroscopic analysis of four such bright sdO stars, namely Feige 34, Feige 67, AGK$+$81 266, and LS II$+$18 9, among which the first three are used as standard stars for flux calibration. We used non-local thermodynamic equilibrium model atmospheres in combination with high quality optical and UV spectra. Photometric data were also used to compute the spectroscopic distances of our stars and to characterize the companion responsible for the infrared excess of Feige 34. The four bright sdO stars have very similar atmospheric parameters with Teff between 60 000 and 63 000 K and log g in the range 5.9 to 6.1. This places these objects right on the theoretical post-EHB evolutionary tracks. The UV spectra are dominated by strong iron and nickel lines and suggest abundances that are enriched with respect to those of the Sun by factors of 25 and 60. On the other hand, the lighter elements, C, N, O, Mg, Si, P, and S, are depleted. The stars have very similar abundances, although AGK$+$81 266 shows differences in its light element abundances. For instance, the helium abundance of this object is 10 times lower than that observed in the other three stars. All our stars show UV spectral lines that require additional line broadening that is consistent with a rotational velocity of about 25 km s$^{-1}$. The infrared excess of Feige 34 is well reproduced by a M0 main-sequence companion and the surface area ratio of the two stars suggests that the system is a physical binary. However, the lack of radial velocity variations points towards a low inclination and/or long orbital period. Spectroscopic and Hipparcos distances are in good agreement for our three brightest stars.

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arXiv2017

Blue large-amplitude pulsators as a new class of variable stars

Regular intrinsic brightness variations observed in many stars are caused by pulsations. These pulsations provide information on the global and structural parameters of the star. The pulsation periods range from seconds to years, depending on the compactness of the star and properties of the matter that forms its outer layers. Here, we report the discovery of more than a dozen of previously unknown short-period variable stars: blue large-amplitude pulsators. These objects show very regular brightness variations with periods in the range of 20-40 min and amplitudes of 0.2-0.4 mag in the optical passbands. The phased light curves have a characteristic sawtooth shape, similar to the shape of classical Cepheids and RR Lyrae-type stars pulsating in the fundamental mode. The objects are significantly bluer than main sequence stars observed in the same fields, which indicates that all of them are hot stars. Follow-up spectroscopy confirms a high surface temperature of about 30,000 K. Temperature and colour changes over the cycle prove the pulsational nature of the variables. However, large-amplitude pulsations at such short periods are not observed in any known type of stars, including hot objects. Long-term photometric observations show that the variable stars are very stable over time. Derived rates of period change are of the order of 10^-7 per year and, in most cases, they are positive. According to pulsation theory, such large-amplitude oscillations may occur in evolved low-mass stars that have inflated helium-enriched envelopes. The evolutionary path that could lead to such stellar configurations remains unknown.

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arXiv2017

Just how hot are the $ω$ Centauri extreme horizontal branch pulsators?

Past studies based on optical spectroscopy suggest that the five $ω$ Cen pulsators form a rather homogeneous group of hydrogen-rich subdwarf O stars with effective temperatures of around 50 000 K. This places the stars below the red edge of the theoretical instability strip in the log $g$ $-$ Teff diagram, where no pulsation modes are predicted to be excited. Our goal is to determine whether this temperature discrepancy is real, or whether the stars' effective temperatures were simply underestimated. We present a spectral analysis of two rapidly pulsating extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars found in $ω$ Cen. We obtained Hubble Space Telescope/COS UV spectra of two $ω$ Cen pulsators, V1 and V5, and used the ionisation equilibrium of UV metallic lines to better constrain their effective temperatures. As a by-product we also obtained FUV lightcurves of the two pulsators. Using the relative strength of the N IV and N V lines as a temperature indicator yields Teff values close to 60 000 K, significantly hotter than the temperatures previously derived. From the FUV light curves we were able to confirm the main pulsation periods known from optical data. With the UV spectra indicating higher effective temperatures than previously assumed, the sdO stars would now be found within the predicted instability strip. Such higher temperatures also provide consistent spectroscopic masses for both the cool and hot EHB stars of our previously studied sample.

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arXiv2016

Spectral analysis of the sdO standard star Feige 34

We present our current work on the spectral analysis of the hot sdO star Feige 34. We combine high S/N optical spectra and fully-blanketed non-LTE model atmospheres to derive its fundamental parameters (Teff, log g) and helium abundance. Our best fits indicate Teff =63 000 K, log g=6.0 and log N(He)/N(H)=-1.8. We also use available ultraviolet spectra (IUE and FUSE) to measure metal abundances. We find the star to be enriched in iron and nickel by a factor of ten with respect to the solar values, while lighter elements have subsolar abundances. The FUSE spectrum suggests that the spectral lines could be broadened by rotation.

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arXiv2015

Quantitative spectral analysis of the sdB star HD 188112: a helium-core white dwarf progenitor

HD 188112 is a bright (V = 10.2 mag) hot subdwarf B (sdB) star with a mass too low to ignite core helium burning and is therefore considered as a pre-extremely low mass (ELM) white dwarf (WD). ELM WDs (M $\le$ 0.3 Msun) are He-core objects produced by the evolution of compact binary systems. We present in this paper a detailed abundance analysis of HD 188112 based on high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) near and far-ultraviolet spectroscopy. We also constrain the mass of the star's companion. We use hybrid non-LTE model atmospheres to fit the observed spectral lines and derive the abundances of more than a dozen elements as well as the rotational broadening of metallic lines. We confirm the previous binary system parameters by combining radial velocities measured in our UV spectra with the already published ones. The system has a period of 0.60658584 days and a WD companion with M $\geq$ 0.70 Msun. By assuming a tidally locked rotation, combined with the projected rotational velocity (v sin i = 7.9 $\pm$ 0.3 km s$^{-1}$) we constrain the companion mass to be between 0.9 and 1.3 Msun. We further discuss the future evolution of the system as a potential progenitor of a (underluminous) type Ia supernova. We measure abundances for Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Zn, as well as for the trans-iron elements Ga, Sn, and Pb. In addition, we derive upper limits for the C, N, O elements and find HD 188112 to be strongly depleted in carbon. We find evidence of non-LTE effects on the line strength of some ionic species such as Si II and Ni II. The metallic abundances indicate that the star is metal-poor, with an abundance pattern most likely produced by diffusion effects.

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arXiv2015

A Low-Resolution Spectroscopic Exploration of Puzzling OGLE Variable Stars

We present the results of a spectroscopic follow-up of various puzzling variable objects detected in the OGLE-III Galactic disk and bulge fields. The sample includes mainly short-period multi-mode pulsating stars that could not have been unambiguously classified as either delta Sct or beta Cep type stars based on photometric data only, also stars with irregular fluctuations mimicking cataclysmic variables and stars with dusty shells, and periodic variables displaying brightenings in their light curves that last for more than half of the period. The obtained low-resolution spectra show that all observed short-period pulsators are of delta Sct type, the stars with irregular fluctuations are young stellar objects, and the objects with regular brightenings are A type stars or very likely Ap stars with strong magnetic field responsible for the presence of bright caps around magnetic poles on their surface. We also took spectra of objects designated OGLE-GD-DSCT-0058 and OGLE-GD-CEP-0013. An estimated effective temperature of 33,000 K in OGLE-GD-DSCT-0058 indicates that it cannot be a delta Sct type variable. This very short-period (0.01962 d) high-amplitude (0.24 mag in the I-band) object remains a mystery. It may represent a new class of variable stars. The spectrum of OGLE-GD-CEP-0013 confirms that this is a classical Cepheid despite a peculiar shape of its light curve. The presented results will help in proper classification of variable objects in the OGLE Galactic Variability Survey.

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arXiv2015

A NLTE analysis of the hot subdwarf O star BD+28 4211. II. The optical spectrum

We present the second part of our detailed analysis of the hot sdO and spectroscopic standard star BD+28 4211, in which we focus on the optical spectrum. In the first part of our study, we determined the abundances of some 11 metals detected in the atmosphere of BD+28 4211 using UV spectra of the star and corroborated the fundamental parameters estimated in past studies (Teff $\sim$ 82,000 K, log g $\sim$ 6.2, and solar N(He)/N(H)). In this work, we aim at rederiving these secured parameters on the sole basis of high-quality optical spectra. A first grid of non-LTE line-blanketed model atmospheres, including metals with the abundances derived from the UV spectrum, does not give satisfactory results when we apply a standard simultaneous fitting procedure to the observed H and He lines of our optical spectra. The line profiles are not finely reproduced and the resulting effective temperatures, in particular, are too low by $\sim$10,000 K. We next investigate the probable cause of this failure, that is, the importance of missing opacity sources on the atmospheric stratification. We compare line profiles computed from models with artificially boosted metallicities, from solar abundances to 15$\times$ these values. We find that the structural effects saturate for a metallicity of $\sim$10x solar, and use this to compute a second full grid of models and synthetic spectra. This metal-enriched grid allows us to achieve significantly improved spectral fits with models having the expected parameters. Our test case thus reveals that there is still a need for models with enhanced metallicity for better estimating the atmospheric parameters of objects such as hot subdwarfs and hot white dwarfs if only optical spectra are available.

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arXiv2015

HD188112: Supernova Ia progenitor?

HD188112 is an extremely low mass white dwarf in a close binary system. According to a previous study, the mass of HD188112 is $\sim$0.24 Msun and a lower limit of 0.73 Msun could be put for the mass of its unseen companion, a compact degenarate object. We used HST STIS spectra to measure the rotational broadening of UV metallic lines in HD188112, in order to put tighter constraints on the mass of its companion. By assuming that the system in is synchronous rotation, we derive a companion mass between 1.05 and 1.25 Msun. We also measure abundances for magnesium, silicon, and iron, respectively log $N$(X)/$N$(H) = $-$6.40, $-$7.25, and $-$5.81. The radial velocities measured from the UV spectra are found to be in very good agreement with the prediction based on the orbital parameters derived in the previous study made a decade ago.

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arXiv2014

Improved determination of the atmospheric parameters of the pulsating sdB star Feige 48

As part of a multifaceted effort to exploit better the asteroseismological potential of the pulsating sdB star Feige 48, we present an improved spectroscopic analysis of that star based on new grids of NLTE, fully line-blanketed model atmospheres. To that end, we gathered four high S/N time-averaged optical spectra of varying spectral resolution from 1.0 Å to 8.7 Å, and we made use of the results of four independent studies to fix the abundances of the most important metals in the atmosphere of Feige 48. The mean atmospheric parameters we obtained from our four spectra of Feige 48 are : Teff= 29,850 $\pm$ 60 K, log $g$ = 5.46 $\pm$ 0.01, and log N(He)/N(H) = $-$2.88 $\pm$ 0.02. We also modeled for the first time the He II line at 1640 Å from the STIS archive spectrum of the star and we found with this line an effective temperature and a surface gravity that match well the values obtained with the optical data. With some fine tuning of the abundances of the metals visible in the optical domain we were able to achieve a very good agreement between our best available spectrum and our best-fitting synthetic one. Our derived atmospheric parameters for Feige 48 are in rather good agreement with previous estimates based on less sophisticated models. This underlines the relatively small effects of the NLTE approach combined with line blanketing in the atmosphere of this particular star, implying that the current estimates of the atmospheric parameters of Feige 48 are reliable and secure.

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arXiv2013

Updates on the Pulsating SdB Star Feige 48 through Spectroscopy

As part of a concentrated effort to understand and exploit better the seismic properties of Feige 48, we reestimated its atmospheric parameters using, for the first time, a self-consistent approach based on the detailed metal abundances that have been determined in previous studies of both its UV and optical spectrum. We computed a small 3D grid of 150 fully line-blanketed, NLTE model atmospheres incorporating the 8 most abundant metals found in the atmosphere of that star. We next compared quantitatively the synthetic spectra that we calculated from these models with three observed spectra having different resolutions (1 A, 6 A, and 8.7 A) and wavelength ranges. Our findings are Teff = 29,890 K, log g = 5.46, and log N(He)/N(H) = -2.88, with very small formal fitting errors. These estimates are in good agreement with those of previous studies, thus showing that the presence of metals do not affect significantly the bulk atmospheric properties of Feige 48. We also modeled the He II line at 1640 A from the STIS spectrum of the star and we found with this line an effective temperature and a surface gravity that match well the values obtained with the optical data. We also present a radial velocity curve based on several years of observing Feige 48 at the MMT. This curve indicates a precise orbital period of 8.25 h. Coupled to our discovery of a weak but very real periodicity of 8.25 h in the light curve of Feige 48, that was gathered during a recent extensive photometric campaign at the Mount Bigelow 1.55 m Kuiper Telescope, we conclude that there is a reflection effect in the system, and that the unseen companion is a low mass MS star and not a white dwarf as has been previously suggested.

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arXiv2013

Observational Asteroseismology of Hot Subdwarf Stars with the Mont4K/Kuiper Combination at the Steward Observatory Mount Bigelow Station

In the last few years, we have carried out several extensive observational campaigns on pulsating hot subdwarf stars using the Mont4K CCD camera attached to the 1.55 m Kuiper Telescope on Mount Bigelow. The Mont4K is a joint partnership between the University of Arizona and Universite de Montreal. It was designed and built at Steward Observatory. Using the Mont4K/Kuiper combination, we have so far, and among others, gathered high-sensitivity broadband light curves for PG 1219+534, PB8783, HS 0702+6043, and Feige 48. We report very briefly on some of the most interesting observational results that came out of these campaigns.

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arXiv2013

A NLTE analysis of the hot subdwarf O star Bd+28 4211. I. The UV spectrum

We present a detailed analysis of the UV spectrum of the calibration star Bd+28 4211 using high-quality spectra obtained with the HST and FUSE satellites. To this aim, we compare quantitatively the observed data with model spectra obtained from state-of-the-art NLTE metal line-blanketed model atmospheres and synthetic spectra calculated with TLUSTY and SYNSPEC. We thus determine in a self-consistent way the abundances of eleven elements with well-defined lines in the UV, namely those of C, N, O, F, Mg, Si, P, S, Ar, Fe, and Ni. The derived abundances range from about solar to 1/10 solar. We find that the overall quality of the derived spectral fits is very satisfying. Our spectral analysis can be used to constrain rather tigthly the effective temperature of Bd+28 to a value of teff = 82,000 +/- 5000 K. We also estimate conservatively that its surface gravity falls in the range log g = 6.2 -0.1/+0.3. Assuming that the Hipparcos measurement for Bd+28 is fully reliable and that our model atmospheres are reasonably realistic, we can reconcile our spectroscopic constraints with the available parallax measurement only if the mass of Bd+28 is significantly less than the canonical value of 0.5 msun for a representative post-EHB star.

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arXiv2010

A NLTE model atmosphere analysis of the pulsating sdO star SDSS J1600+0748

We started a program to construct several grids of suitable model atmospheres and synthetic spectra for hot subdwarf O stars computed, for comparative purposes, in LTE, NLTE, with and without metals. For the moment, we use our grids to perform fits on our spectrum of SDSS J160043.6+074802.9 (J1600+0748 for short), this unique pulsating sdO star. Our best fit is currently obtained with NLTE model atmospheres including carbon, nitrogen and oxygen in solar abundances, which leads to the following parameters for SDSS J1600+0748 : Teff = 69 060 +/- 2080 K, log g = 6.00 +/- 0.09 and log N(He)/N(H) = -0.61 +/- 0.06. Improvements are needed, however, particularly for fitting the available He II lines. It is hoped that the inclusion of Fe will help remedy the situation.

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