Issue |
A&A
Volume 602, June 2017
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A91 | |
Number of page(s) | 20 | |
Section | Stellar structure and evolution | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201630318 | |
Published online | 20 June 2017 |
Studying the photometric and spectroscopic variability of the magnetic hot supergiant ζ Orionis Aa⋆,⋆⋆
1 LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
e-mail: bram.buysschaert@obspm.fr
2 Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
3 Ritter Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA
4 Département de physique and Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique du Québec (CRAQ), Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada
5 Department of Physics & Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
6 Department of Physics, California Lutheran University, 60 West Olsen Road 3700, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, USA
7 Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
8 Dept. of Astrophysics, IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
9 Graz University of Technology, Institute of Communication Networks and Satellite Communications, Inffeldgasse 12, 8010 Graz, Austria
10 Institut für Astrophysik, Universität Wien, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Wien, Austria
11 Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George St, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3H4, Canada
12 Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Automatic Control, Gliwice, Akademicka 16, Poland
13 Centrum Astronomiczne im. M. Kopernika, Polska Akademia Nauk, Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warszawa, Poland
14 Department of Physics, Royal Military College of Canada, PO Box 17000, Station Forces, Kingston, Ontario, K7K 7B4, Canada
Received: 22 December 2016
Accepted: 24 March 2017
Massive stars play a significant role in the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies. However, much of their variability, particularly during their evolved supergiant stage, is poorly understood. To understand the variability of evolved massive stars in more detail, we present a study of the O9.2Ib supergiant ζ Ori Aa, the only currently confirmed supergiant to host a magnetic field. We have obtained two-color space-based BRIght Target Explorer photometry (BRITE) for ζ Ori Aa during two observing campaigns, as well as simultaneous ground-based, high-resolution optical CHIRON spectroscopy. We perform a detailed frequency analysis to detect and characterize the star’s periodic variability. We detect two significant, independent frequencies, their higher harmonics, and combination frequencies: the stellar rotation period Prot = 6.82 ± 0.18 d, most likely related to the presence of the stable magnetic poles, and a variation with a period of 10.0 ± 0.3 d attributed to circumstellar environment, also detected in the Hα and several He I lines, yet absent in the purely photospheric lines. We confirm the variability with Prot/4, likely caused by surface inhomogeneities, being the possible photospheric drivers of the discrete absorption components. No stellar pulsations were detected in the data. The level of circumstellar activity clearlydiffers between the two BRITE observing campaigns. We demonstrate that ζ Ori Aa is a highly variable star with both periodic and non-periodic variations, as well as episodic events. The rotation period we determined agrees well with the spectropolarimetric value from the literature. The changing activity level observed with BRITE could explain why the rotational modulation of the magnetic measurements was not clearly detected at all epochs.
Key words: stars: massive / stars: oscillations / stars: interiors / stars: mass-loss / stars: rotation / stars: individual: ζOrionis
Based on data collected by the BRITE Constellation satellite mission, designed, built, launched, operated and supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the University of Vienna, the Technical University of Graz, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), the Foundation for Polish Science & Technology (FNiTP MNiSW), and National Science Centre (NCN).
© ESO, 2017
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