Letter to the Editor

V363 Cassiopeiae: a new lithium-rich Galactic Cepheid^⋆

¹ INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S.Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
e-mail: giovanni.catanzaro@inaf.it
² INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Naples, Italy
e-mail: vincenzo.ripepi@inaf.it
³ INAF-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, Via Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁴ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy

Received: 25 May 2020
Accepted: 4 June 2020

Abstract

Context. Classical Cepheids (DCEPs) are important astrophysical objects not only as standard candles in the determination of the cosmic distance ladder, but also as a testbed for the stellar evolution theory. This is based on the strict connection between their pulsation (period(s) and amplitudes) and stellar parameters (luminosity, mass, effective temperature, and metallicity).

Aims. We examine the nature of the Galactic DCEP V363 Cas and other DCEPs that show cosmic abundances of lithium in their atmospheres.

Methods. We collected three epochs of high-resolution spectroscopy for V363 Cas with HARPS-N at the TNG. We measured accurate stellar parameters: the effective temperatures, gravities, microturbulences, radial velocities, and metal abundances.

Results. We detected a lithium abundance of A(Li) = 2.86 ± 0.10 dex, along with iron, carbon, and oxygen abundances of [Fe/H] = −0.30 ± 0.12 dex, [C/H] = −0.06 ± 0.15 dex, and [O/H] = 0.00 ± 0.12 dex. V363 Cas is the fifth of the Milky Way DCEPs to exhibit a Li-rich feature. An analysis of historical time-series spanning a 100-year interval shows that the period of V363 Cas is increasing, with a sharp acceleration after HJD = 2 453 000 days. This is a clear indication of a first crossing of the instability strip.

Conclusions. Our results favour the scenario in which the five Galactic Li-rich DCEPs are on their first crossing of the instability strip and have had slowly rotating progenitors during their main-sequence phase.