Frequency spectrum of the rapidly-oscillating mass-accreting component of the Algol-type system AS Eri

¹ Astrophysical Research Center for the Structure and Evolution of the Cosmos, 98 Gunja-Dong Gwangjin-Gu, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747, Korea
² Astronomical Observatory, Odessa National University, Shevchenko Park, Odessa 65014, Ukraine
³ Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, Universitetsky prospect 13, Moscow 119899, Russia
⁴ Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute of the Kazakhstan National Academy of Sciences, Kamenskoye plato, Almaty 480068, Kazakhstan
⁵ Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute, Astronomicheskaya St. 33, Tashkent 700052, Uzbekistan
⁶ Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC, PO Box 3004, 18080 Granada, Spain
⁷ Thüringer Landessternwarte, 07778 Tautenburg, Germany e-mail: anastasia@tls-tautenburg.de
⁸ Department of Earth Science Education, Chonbuk National University, Chonju 516-756, Korea
⁹ Korea Astronomy Observatory, Daejeon 305-348, Korea
¹⁰ Astronomy Department, University of Illinois, 1002 W.Green St., Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
¹¹ Isaac Newton Institute in Chile, Kazakhstan Branch, Russie
¹² Isaac Newton Institute in Chile, Uzbekistan Branch, Russie

Corresponding author: D. E. Mkrtichian, david@arcsec.sejong.ac.kr

Received: 27 November 2002
Accepted: 15 January 2004

Abstract

The first multisite photometric campaign devoted to the rapidly oscillating mass-accreting (primary) component of the Algol-type eclipsing binary system AS Eri has confirmed the presence of rapid pulsations with frequency 59.03116  d^-1, and revealed the second and third oscillation modes with frequencies 62.5631  d^-1 and 61.6743  d^-1, respectively. These modes are related to the 5-6 overtone oscillations and are among the shortest periods excited in non-magnetic MS A-F stars. The nearly equator-on visibility of eclipsing binaries help to narrow the range of possible mode identifications for the detectable modes as radial or , and . We checked the high-order pulsation-to-orbital synchronization (POS) using the trial mode identification and the Doppler effect correction for frequencies of non-radial pulsation. We found that or and identifications for and modes respectively satisfied the high-order POS. These mode identifications are in agreement with the range of modes visible in disk integrated light of an equator-on visible pulsating component.
The wavelength distribution of pulsation amplitudes in AS Eri is largest in the Strömgren u filter and decreases toward longer wavelengths. We place AS Eri and other known mass-accreting pulsating components of Algols on HR-diagram. They are located inside the instability strip on the Main Sequence. We also discuss the peculiar evolutionary status of primary components in Algols and stress that they are not normal δ Scuti stars, but form a separate group of pulsators. Finally, we discuss proximity and eclipse effects, and have simulated the effect of primary minimum data gaps that may produce the 1/ alias sidelobes in DFT analysis of eclipsing binary data. Aliases from gaps in primary minimum observations seem to be the principal limitation on spectral window functions in asteroseismic studies of eclipsing binaries.