Understanding RR Lyrae Stars: Pulsation Mechanisms and Galactic Significance
RR Lyrae stars are fascinating celestial objects known for their stable pulsations and high luminosity. This presentation discusses their characteristics, including variations in chemical composition and pulsational cycles. The Kappa mechanism drives their pulsations, making them act like a jello, expanding and contracting over time. These stars serve as reliable standard candles for measuring cosmic distances, particularly to globular clusters like M3. Recent missions, such as CoRoT and Kepler, have unveiled new properties of RR Lyrae stars, enhancing our understanding of galactic structure and evolution.
Understanding RR Lyrae Stars: Pulsation Mechanisms and Galactic Significance
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Presentation Transcript
RR Lyraes Bi-Qing For Chris Sneden (UT) George Preston (Carnegie Observatory)
What are RR Lyrae stars? APOD 23 Feb 2001
What happens when stars cross the instability strip? They pulsate like a jello! Scientific Computing in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney
RR Lyraes Max radius Typical time scale = 0.57 day
Restore the balance inside the star Contract Expand What drives stellar pulsations? • Kappa-mechanism (RR Lyrs) • “steam engine” Absorb heat Release heat / cool off
Why RR Lyraes are interesting? • Most of RR Lyraes have • stable pulsation • stable pulsational period • high luminosity • Easy to be identified at large distances • Standard candles for distance scale • Tracers for Studying Galactic structure
Distance scale to Globular Clusters M 3 https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~jhartman/M3_movies.html
Tracers for studying Galactic structure Duffau et al. (2006)
Special: Blazhko effect Sergey Blazhko created by D. Welch based on MACHO project data, Alcock et al. 2000
What am I studying? • Chemical compositions throughout the pulsational cycle. • Line profile variation • Where do we get the spectra?
George Preston LCO Du Pont 100 inch
Current Missions CoRoT - COnvection, ROtation & Transits planétaires Kepler Space Telescope • Many new RR Lyrs have been discovered • New properties have been found in the lightcurves of RR Lyrs