Department of Physics and Astronomy: Individual Faculty Pages
Norman R. Simon Papers
Accessibility Remediation
If you are unable to use this item in its current form due to accessibility barriers, you may request remediation through our remediation request form.
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
10-15-1982
Citation
THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 261:586-594,1982 October 15
Abstract
Fourier decompositions have been made of the light curves of a large sample of RR Lyrae field stars. The coefficients have been tabulated. Following the scheme of an earlier investigation of classical Cepheids, certain combinations of the low-order coefficients- ϕ21, R21, and ϕ31 -are plotted against period. The Bailey-type c pulsators stand out from the type ab stars, particularly on the R21 plot which is found to be a more sensitive discriminator of Bailey type than is the traditionally employed amplitude-period diagram. We compare the RR Lyrae plots of ϕ21, R21 , and ϕ31 with those previously obtained for classical Cepheids. It is noted that, while the Cepheid plots display a tightly defined progression with period, reflecting the influence of a modal resonance, in the RR Lyrae case there is much more scatter. However, some evidence is shown to exist for a Cepheid-like progression appearing among the longer period RR Lyrae pulsators and culminating in the unique small-amplitude variable XZ Ceti. New observations will be required to confirm the reality of such a progression.
Comments
Copyright 1982 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.