Wednesday, October 3, 2012

1210.0262 (Marcelo M. Miller Bertolami et al.)

Pulsations driven by the $ε$-mechanism in post-merger remnants: first results    [PDF]

Marcelo M. Miller Bertolami, Alejandro H. Córsico, Xianfei Zhang, Leandro G. Althaus, C. Simon Jeffery
Helium-rich subdwarfs are a rare subclass of hot subdwarf stars which constitute a small and inhomogeneous group showing varying degrees of helium enrichment. Only one star, LS IV $^\circ$14 116 has been found to show multiperiodic luminosity variations. The variability of LS IV $^\circ$14 116 has been explained as the consequence of nonradial g-mode oscillations, whose excitation is difficult to understand within the frame of the standard $\kappa$-mechanism driving pulsations in sdBV stars. In a recent study, we have proposed that the pulsations of LS IV $^\circ$14 116 might be driven through the $\epsilon$-mechanism acting in unstable He-burning zones in the interior of the star, that appear before the quiescent He-burning phase. One of the few accepted scenarios for the formation of He-rich subdwarfs is the merger of two He-core white dwarfs. As part of this project, we present a study of the $\epsilon$-mechanism in post-merger remnants, and discuss the results in the light of the pulsations exhibited by LS IV $^\circ$14 116.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.0262

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