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Several open questions on galaxy formation and evolution have their roots in the lack of a universal star formation law, that could univocally link the gas properties, e.g. its density, to the star formation rate (SFR) density. In a recent paper, we used a sample of nearby disc galaxies to infer the volumetric star formation (VSF) law, a tight correlation between the gas and the SFR volume densities derived under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium for the gas disc. However, due to the dearth of information about the vertical distribution of the SFR in these galaxies, we could not find a unique slope for the VSF law, but two alternative values. In this paper, we use the scale height of the SFR density distribution in our Galaxy adopting classical Cepheids (age$\lesssim 200$ Myr) as tracers of star formation. We show that this latter is fully compatible with the flaring scale height expected from gas in hydrostatic equilibrium. These scale heights allowed us to convert the observed surface densities of gas and SFR into the corresponding volume densities. Our results indicate that the VSF law $\rho_\mathrm{SFR} \propto \rho_\mathrm{gas}^\alpha$ with $\alpha \approx 2$ is valid in the Milky Way as well as in nearby disc galaxies., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, + 4 pages of Appendix, accepted by A&A

Context. Bulge globular clusters (BGCs) are exceptional tracers of the formation and chemodynamical evolution of this oldest Galactic component. However, until now, observational difficulties have prevented us from taking full advantage of these powerful Galactic archeological tools. Aims. CAPOS, the bulge Cluster APOgee Survey, addresses this key topic by observing a large number of BGCs, most of which have only been poorly studied previously. Even their most basic parameters, such as metallicity, [{\alpha}/Fe], and radial velocity, are generally very uncertain. We aim to obtain accurate mean values for these parameters, as well as abundances for a number of other elements, and explore multiple populations. In this first paper, we describe the CAPOS project and present initial results for seven BGCs. Methods. CAPOS uses the APOGEE-2S spectrograph observing in the H band to penetrate obscuring dust toward the bulge. For this initial paper, we use abundances derived from ASPCAP, the APOGEE pipeline. Results. We derive mean [Fe/H] values of $-$0.85$\pm$0.04 (Terzan 2), $-$1.40$\pm$0.05 (Terzan 4), $-$1.20$\pm$0.10 (HP 1), $-$1.40$\pm$0.07 (Terzan 9), $-$1.07$\pm$0.09 (Djorg 2), $-$1.06$\pm$0.06 (NGC 6540), and $-$1.11$\pm$0.04 (NGC 6642) from three to ten stars per cluster. We determine mean abundances for eleven other elements plus the mean [$\alpha$/Fe] and radial velocity. CAPOS clusters significantly increase the sample of well-studied Main Bulge globular clusters (GCs) and also extend them to lower metallicity. We reinforce the finding that Main Bulge and Main Disk GCs, formed in situ, have [Si/Fe] abundances slightly higher than their accreted counterparts at the same metallicity. We investigate multiple populations and find our clusters generally follow the light-element (anti)correlation trends of previous studies of GCs of similar metallicity. We finally explore the abundances ..., Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables. Abridged abstract. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)

The KiDS Strongly lensed QUAsar Detection project (KiDS-SQuaD) aims at finding as many previously undiscovered gravitational lensed quasars as possible in the Kilo Degree Survey. This is the second paper of this series where we present a new, automatic object classification method based on machine learning technique. The main goal of this paper is to build a catalogue of bright extragalactic objects (galaxies and quasars), from the KiDS Data Release 4, with a minimum stellar contamination, preserving the completeness as much as possible, to then apply morphological methods to select reliable gravitationally lensed (GL) quasar candidates. After testing some of the most used machine learning algorithms, decision trees based classifiers, we decided to use CatBoost, that was specifically trained with the aim of creating a sample of extragalactic sources as clean as possible from stars. We discuss the input data, define the training sample for the classifier, give quantitative estimates of its performances, and finally describe the validation results with Gaia DR2, AllWISE, and GAMA catalogues. We have built and make available to the scientific community the KiDS Bright EXtraGalactic Objects catalogue (KiDS-BEXGO), specifically created to find gravitational lenses. This is made of $\approx6$ millions of sources classified as quasars ($\approx 200\,000$) and galaxies ($\approx 5.7$M), up to $r, Submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics, 19 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables

High-precision stellar analyses require hydrodynamic 3D modeling. Such models predict changes across stellar disks of spectral line shapes, asymmetries, and wavelength shifts. For testing models in stars other than the Sun, spatially resolved observations are feasible from differential spectroscopy during exoplanet transits, retrieving spectra of stellar surface segments that successively become hidden behind the transiting planet, as shown in Papers I, II, and III. Synthetic high-resolution spectra over extended spectral regions are now available from 3D models. Similar to other ab initio simulations, these data contain patterns that have not been specifically modeled but may be revealed after analyses analogous to those of a large volume of observations. From five 3D models spanning T=3964-6726K (approx. spectral types K8V-F3V), synthetic spectra at hyper-high resolution (R>1,000,000) were analyzed. Selected FeI and FeII lines at various positions across stellar disks were searched for patterns between different lines in the same star and for similar lines between different stars. Such patterns are identified for representative photospheric lines of different strengths, excitation potential, and ionization level, encoding the hydrodynamic 3D structure. Line profiles and bisectors are shown for various stars at different positions across stellar disks. Absolute convective wavelength shifts are obtained as differences to 1D models, where such shifts do not occur. Observable relationships for line properties are retrieved from realistically complex synthetic spectra. Such patterns may also test very detailed 3D modeling, including non-LTE effects. While present results are obtained at hyper-high spectral resolution, the subsequent Paper V examines their practical observability at realistically lower resolutions, and in the presence of noise., 17 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Turbulence plays a key role in the transport of pebble-sized particles. It also affects the ability of pebbles to be accreted by protoplanets, because it stirs pebbles out of the disk midplane. In addition, turbulence can suppress pebble accretion once the relative velocities become too large for the settling mechanism to be viable. Following Paper I, we aim to quantify these effects by calculating the pebble accretion efficiency $\varepsilon$ using three-body simulations. To model the effect of turbulence on the pebbles, we derive a stochastic equation of motion (SEOM) applicable to stratified disk configurations. In the strong coupling limit (ignoring particle inertia) the limiting form of this equation agrees with previous works. We conduct a parameter study and calculate $\varepsilon$ in 3D, varying pebble and gas (turbulence) properties and accounting for the planet inclination. We find that strong turbulence suppresses pebble accretion through turbulent diffusion, agreeing within factors of order unity with previous works. Another reduction of $\varepsilon$ occurs when the turbulent rms motions are large and the settling mechanism fails. Efficiency-wise, the outer disk regions are more affected by turbulence than the inner regions. At the location of the H$_2$O iceline, planets around low-mass stars achieve much higher efficiencies. Including the results from Paper I, we present a framework to obtain $\varepsilon$ under general circumstances., Comment: accepted version

Context. Barium and S stars without technetium are red giants and are suspected of being members of binary systems due to their overabundances in heavy elements. These elements are produced by the s-process of nucleosynthesis, despite the stars not being evolved enough to be able to activate the s-process in their interiors. A companion formerly on the asymptotic giant branch (now a white dwarf) is supposed to be responsible for the barium-And S-star enrichment in s-process elements through mass transfer. Aims. This paper provides both long-period and revised orbits for barium and S stars, adding to previously published orbits. The sample of barium stars with strong anomalies (i.e. those classified as Ba3, Ba4, or Ba5 in the Warner scale) comprises all known stars of that kind, and in that sense forms a complete sample that allows us to investigate several orbital properties of these post-mass-Transfer binaries in an unbiased way. Methods. Orbital elements are derived from radial velocities collected from a long-Term radial-velocity monitoring campaign performed with the HERMES spectrograph mounted on the Mercator 1.2m telescope. These new measurements were combined with older, CORAVEL measurements. With the aim of investigating possible correlations between orbital properties and abundances, we also collected a set of abundances for barium stars with orbital elements that is as homogeneous as possible. When unavailable in the literature, abundances were derived from high-resolution HERMES spectra. Results. We find orbital motion for all barium and extrinsic S stars monitored (except for the mild barium star HD95345). We obtain the longest period known so far for a spectroscopic binary involving an S star, namely 57 Peg with a period of the order of 100-500 yr. We present the mass distribution for the barium stars, which ranges from 1 to 3 Ṁ, with a tail extending up to 5 M ·in the case of mild barium stars. This high-mass tail is mostly comprised of high-metallicity objects ([Fe/H] ≥-0:1). The distribution of the companion masses was extracted from the barium-star mass distribution combined with the finding that Q = f (MBa; MWD)= sin3 i = M3 WD=(MBa + MWD)2 is peaked at 0:057 ± 0:009 and 0:036 ± 0:027 M ·for strong and mild barium stars, respectively ( f (MBa; MWD) is the mass function obtained from the orbital elements of spectroscopic binaries with one observable spectrum). Mass functions are compatible with WD companions whose masses range from 0.5 to 1 M·. Strong barium stars have a tendency to be found in systems with shorter periods than mild barium stars, although this correlation is rather lose, with metallicity and WD mass also playing a role. Using the initialfinal mass relationship established for field WDs, we derived the distribution of the mass ratio q0 = MAGB;ini=MBa (where MAGB;ini is the WD progenitor initial mass, i.e. the mass of the former primary component of the system) which is a proxy for the initial mass ratio (the less mass the barium star has accreted, the better the proxy). It appears that the distribution of q0 is highly nonuniform, and significantly different for mild and strong barium stars, the latter being characterized by values mostly in excess of 1.4, whereas mild barium stars occupy the range 1-1.4. Conclusions. The orbital properties presented in this paper pave the way for a comparison with binary-evolution and nucleosynthesis models, which should account for the various significant correlations found between abundances and dynamical parameters (e.g. between MBa on one hand and MWD, [Fe/H], and [s/Fe] on the other hand, between q0 and [s/Fe], between P and e, and between P and [s/Fe] altogether)., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Stellar activity is the main limitation to the detection of Earth-twins using the RV technique. Despite many efforts in trying to mitigate the effect of stellar activity using empirical and statistical techniques, it seems that we are facing an obstacle that will be extremely difficult to overcome using current techniques. In this paper, we investigate a novel approach to derive precise RVs considering the wealth of information present in high-resolution spectra. This new method consists in building a master spectrum from all observations and measure the RVs of each spectral line in a spectrum relative to it. When analysing several spectra, the final product is the RVs of each line as a function of time. We demonstrate on three stars intensively observed with HARPS that our new method gives RVs that are extremely similar to the ones derived from the HARPS data reduction software. Our new approach to derive RVs demonstrates that the non-stability of daily HARPS wavelength solution induces night-to-night RV offsets with an standard deviation of 0.4 m/s, and we propose a solution to correct for this systematic. Finally, and this is probably the most astrophysically relevant result of this paper, we demonstrate that some spectral lines are strongly affected by stellar activity while others are not. By measuring the RVs on two carefully selected subsample of spectral lines, we demonstrate that we can boost by a factor of 2 or mitigate by a factor of 1.6 the red noise induced by stellar activity in the 2010 RVs of Alpha Cen B. By measuring the RVs of each spectral line, we are able to reach the same RV precision as other approved techniques. In addition, this new approach allows to demonstrate that each line is differently affected by stellar activity. Preliminary results show that studying in details the behaviour of each spectral line is probably the key to overcome stellar activity., 14 pages (plus 8 pages of Appendix), 17 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in A&A. Version 2: typo corrected in Equation 1

Context. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been successfully launched and has begin data acquisition. To expedite the science that may be performed with the resulting data it is necessary to gain a good understanding of planetary yields. Given the observing strategy employed by TESS the probability of detecting single transits in long period systems is increased. These systems require careful consideration. Aims. We aim to simulate the number of TESS transit detections during its two-year mission with a particular emphasis on single transits. We also aim to determine the feasibility of ground-based follow-up observations from a single site. Methods. A distribution of planets was simulated around the approximately four million stars in the TESS candidate target list. These planets were tested for detectable transits and characterised. Based on simulated parameters the single transit detections were further analysed to determine which are amenable to ground-based follow-up. Results. TESS will discover an approximate lower bound of 4700 planets with around 460 being single transits. A large fraction of these will be observable from a single ground-based site. This paper finds that, in a single year, approximately 1000 transit events of around 320 unique TESS single transit detections are theoretically observable. Conclusions. As we consider longer period exoplanets, the need for exploring single transit detections increases. For periods ≳45 days the number of single transit detections outnumber multitransits by a factor of three (82 ± 18 and 25 ± 7, respectively) a factor which only grows as longer period detections are considered. Therefore, based on this paper, it is worth expending the extra effort required to follow-up these more challenging, but potentially very rewarding, discoveries. Additionally, we conclude that a large fraction of these targets can be theoretically observed from a single ground-based site. However, further work is required to determine whether these follow-up efforts are feasible when accounting for target specific criteria.

Context. Type I superluminous supernova (SLSN) host galaxies are predominantly low-metallicity, highly star-forming (SF) dwarfs. One of the current key questions is whether Type I SLSNe can only occur in such environments and hosts. Aims. Here we present an integral-field study of the massive, high-metallicity spiral NGC 3191, the host of SN 2017egm, the closest Type I SLSN known to date. We use data from PMAS/CAHA and the public MaNGA survey to shed light on the properties of the SLSN site and the origin of star formation in this non-starburst spiral galaxy. Methods. We map the physical properties of different H ii regions throughout the galaxy and characterise their stellar populations using the STARLIGHT fitting code. Kinematical information allows us to study a possible interaction with its neighbouring galaxy as the origin of recent star formation activity which could have caused the SLSN. Results. NGC 3191 shows intense star formation in the western part with three large SF regions of low metallicity. Taking only the properties of emitting gas, the central regions of the host have a higher metallicity, a lower specific star formation rate, and lower ionisation. Modelling the stellar populations gives a different picture: the SLSN region has two dominant stellar populations with different ages, the younger one with an age of 2-10 Myr and lower metallicity, likely the population from which the SN progenitor originated. Emission line kinematics of NGC 3191 show indications of interaction with its neighbour MCG+08-19-017 at ∼45 kpc, which might be responsible for the recent starburst. In fact, this galaxy pair has hosted a total of four SNe, 1988B (Type Ia), SN 2003ds (Type Ic in MCG+08-19-017), PTF10bgl (Type II), and 2017egm, underlying the enhanced SF in both galaxies due to interaction. Conclusions. Our study shows that care should be taken when interpreting global host and even gas properties without looking at the stellar population history of the region. The SLSNe seem to be consistent with massive stars (>20 M) requiring low metallicity (, We thank the referee for the constructive comments that have improved the paper. We also thank Steve Schulze and Yan Lin for their important comments to the paper. L.I., C.T., Z.C., A.d.U.P., and D.A.K. acknowledge support from the Spanish research project AYA2014-58381-P. C.T. and A.d.U.P. also acknowledge support from Ramon y Cajal fellowships RyC-2012-09984 and RyC-2012-09975. D.A.K. and Z.C. acknowledge support from Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion fellowships IJCI-2015-26153 and IJCI-2014-21669. R.G.B. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, through projects AYA2016-77846-P and AYA2014-57490-P. L.I. wishes to thank Anna Serena Esposito for her kind availability and support in organising the figures presented in this paper.

This paper is a follow-up of the vast effort to collect radial velocity data for stars belonging to the Hipparcos survey. We aim at extending the orbital data available for binaries with M giant primaries. The data will be used in the companion papers of this series to (i) derive the binary frequency among M giants and compare it to that of K giants (Paper II), and (ii) analyse the eccentricity-period diagram and the mass-function distribution (Paper III). Keplerian solutions are fitted to radial-velocity data. However, for several stars, no satisfactory solution could be found, despite the fact that the radial-velocity standard deviation is larger than the instrumental error, because M giants suffer from intrinsic radial-velocity variations due to pulsations. We show that these intrinsic radial-velocity variations can be linked with both the average spectral-line width and the photometric variability. We present an extensive collection of spectroscopic orbits for M giants, with 12 new orbits, plus 17 from the literature. Moreover, to illustrate the fact that the large radial-velocity jitter present in Mira and semi-regular variables may easily be confused with orbital variations, we also present examples of pseudo-orbital variations (in S UMa, X Cnc and possibly in HD 115521, a former IAU radial-velocity standard). Because of this difficulty, M giants involving Mira variables were excluded from our monitored sample. We finally show that the majority of M giants detected as X-ray sources are actually binaries., Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, language editing changes only

In a companion paper we studied the detailed evolution of stellar collision products that occurred in an $N$-body simulation of the old open cluster M67 and compared our detailed models to simple prescriptions. In this paper we extend this work by studying the evolution of the collision products in open clusters as a function of mass and age of the progenitor stars. We calculated a grid of head-on collisions covering the section of parameter space relevant for collisions in open clusters. We create detailed models of the merger remnants using an entropy-sorting algorithm and follow their subsequent evolution during the initial contraction phase, through the main sequence and up to the giant branch with our detailed stellar evolution code. We compare the location of our models in a colour-magnitude diagram to the observed blue straggler population of the old open clusters M67 and NGC 188 and find that they cover the observed blue straggler region of both clusters. For M67, collisions need to have taken place recently. Differences between the evolution tracks of the collision products and normal main sequence stars can be understood quantitatively using a simple analytic model. We present an analytic recipe that can be used in an $N$-body code to transform a precomputed evolution track for a normal star into an evolution track for a collision product., To be published in A&A

This is the third of a series of papers presenting the first attempt to analyze the growth of the bar instability in a consistent cosmological scenario. In the previous two articles we explored the role of the cosmology on stellar disks, and the impact of the gaseous component on a disk embedded in a cosmological dark matter halo. The aim of this paper is to point out the impact of the star formation on the bar instability inside disks having different gas fractions. We perform cosmological simulations of the same disk-to-halo mass systems as in the previous works where the star formation was not triggered. We compare the results of the new simulations with the previous ones to investigate the effect of the star formation by analysing the morphology of the stellar components, the bar strength, the behaviour of the pattern speed. We follow the gas and the central mass concentration during the evolution and their impact on the bar strength. In all our cosmological simulations a stellar bar, lasting 10 Gyr, is still living at z=0. The central mass concentration of gas and of the new stars has a mild action on the ellipticity of the bar but is not able to destroy it; at z=0 the stellar bar strength is enhanced by the star formation. The bar pattern speed is decreasing with the disk evolution., 10 pages, 21 figures, A&A accepted

We present the results of the first long-term (2.2 years) spectroscopic monitoring of a gravitationally lensed quasar, namely the Einstein Cross Q2237+0305. The goal of this paper is to present the observational facts to be compared in follow-up papers with theoretical models to constrain the inner structure of the source quasar. We spatially deconvolve deep VLT/FORS1 spectra to accurately separate the spectrum of the lensing galaxy from the spectra of the quasar images. Accurate cross-calibration of the 58 observations at 31-epoch from October 2004 to December 2006 is carried out with non-variable foreground stars observed simultaneously with the quasar. The quasar spectra are further decomposed into a continuum component and several broad emission lines to infer the variations of these spectral components. We find prominent microlensing events in the quasar images A and B, while images C and D are almost quiescent on a timescale of a few months. The strongest variations are observed in the continuum of image A. Their amplitude is larger in the blue (0.7 mag) than in the red (0.5 mag), consistent with microlensing of an accretion disk. Variations in the intensity and profile of the broad emission lines are also reported, most prominently in the wings of the CIII] and center of the CIV emission lines. During a strong microlensing episode observed in June 2006 in quasar image A, the broad component of the CIII] is more highly magnified than the narrow component. In addition, the emission lines with higher ionization potentials are more magnified than the lines with lower ionization potentials, consistent with the results obtained with reverberation mapping. Finally, we find that the V-band differential extinction by the lens, between the quasar images, is in the range 0.1-0.3 mag., Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, A&A accepted, corrected Fig. 16

We present a parameter study of self-consistent models of protoplanetary disks around Herbig AeBe stars. We use the code developed by Dullemond and Dominik, which solves the 2D radiative transfer problem including an iteration for the vertical hydrostatic structure of the disk. This grid of models will be used for several studies on disk emission and mineralogy in followup papers. In this paper we take a first look on the new models, compare them with previous modeling attempts and focus on the effects of various parameters on the overall structure of the SED that leads to the classification of Herbig AeBe stars into two groups, with a flaring (group I) or self-shadowed (group II) SED. We find that the parameter of overriding importance to the SED is the total mass in grains smaller than 25um, confirming the earlier results by Dullemond and Dominik. All other parameters studied have only minor influences, and will alter the SED type only in borderline cases. We find that there is no natural dichotomy between group I and II. From a modeling point of view, the transition is a continuous function of the small dust mass. We also show that moderate grain growth produces spectra with weak or no 1um feature, both for flaring (Group I) and non-flaring (Group II) sources. The fact that sources with weak features have been found mostly in Group I sources is therefore surprising and must be due to observational biases or evolutionary effects., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press

In recent papers convincing evidence has been presented for chemical stratification in Ap star atmospheres, and surface abundance maps have been shown to correlate with the magnetic field direction. Radiatively driven diffusion in magnetic fields is among the processes responsible for these inhomogeneities. Here we explore the hypothesis that equilibrium stratifications can, in a number of cases, explain the observed abundance maps and vertical distributions of the various elements. The investigation of equilibrium stratifications in stellar atmospheres with temperatures from 8500K to 12000K and fields up to 10 kG reveals considerable variations in the vertical distribution of the 5 elements studied (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe), often with zones of large over- or under-abundances and with indications of other competing processes (such as mass loss). Horizontal magnetic fields can be very efficient in helping the accumulation of elements in higher layers. A comparison between our calculations and the vertical abundance profiles and surface maps derived by magnetic Doppler imaging reveals that equilibrium stratifications are in a number of cases consistent with the main trends inferred from observed spectra. However, it is not clear whether such equilibrium solutions will ever be reached during the evolution of an Ap star., 7 pages, 6 figures, the paper will be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, on November 2007

Context. Planetary Nebulae (PNe) display complex radial surface brightness profiles whose understanding is crucial for a correct interpretation of their formation and evolution. In particular, the intermediate shells commonly observed around the bright rims of PNe contain important information for the discussion of the mass loss rate at the end of the AGB, for the determination of the post-AGB age of the central stars and the distance via the expansion parallax method, and for the analysis of line profiles for unresolved, faraway objects like extragalactic PNe. Aims. This paper describes the dynamical properties of PNe shells and presents a new practical method to properly determine their expansion velocity. Methods. The analysis is guided by realistic radiative-hydrodynamical simulations which allow to test and verify different methods for the kinematical study of PNe shells using high-resolution long-slit spectra. Results. We show that the use of the derivative of the line profile allows us to determine accurately the post-shock gas velocity in the shells. This method is generally superior to other techniques previously used. In addition, if applied to long-slit data, it allows to determine the velocities of the shells even when they are very close to those of the PNe rims. Its application to 10 real PNe confirms the model predictions and previous conclusions about the substantial mass loss increase during the latest AGB evolution. Conclusions. The method and discussion presented in this paper are meant to be used as a guide for a correct determination of some basic kinematic and evolutionary properties of Galactic and extragalactic PNe, including their expansion parallaxes.

The HARPS high-resolution high-accuracy spectrograph is offered to the astronomical community since the second half of 2003. Since then, we have been using this instrument for monitoring radial velocities of a large sample of Solar-type stars (~1400 stars) in order to search for their possible low-mass companions. Amongst the goals of our survey, one is to significantly increase the number of detected extra-solar planets in a volume-limited sample to improve our knowledge of their orbital elements distributions and thus obtain better constraints for planet-formation models. In this paper, we present the HARPS radial-velocity data and orbital solutions for 3 Solar-type stars: HD 100777, HD 190647, and HD 221287. The radial-velocity data of HD 100777 is best explained by the presence of a 1.1 M_Jup planetary companion on a 384--day eccentric orbit (e=0.36). The orbital fit obtained for the slightly evolved star HD 190647 reveals the presence of a long-period (P=1038 d) 1.9 M_Jup planetary companion on a moderately eccentric orbit (e=0.18). HD 221287 is hosting a 3.1 M_Jup planet on a 456--day orbit. The shape of this orbit is not very well constrained because of our non-optimal temporal coverage and because of the presence of abnormally large residuals. We find clues for these large residuals to result from spectral line profile variations probably induced by stellar activity related processes., 7 pages, 4 figures, RV data added in paper. A&A in press

Mass is clearly the most important parameter of a star as it determines the phases it will go through, its physical parameters, the elements produced and its life span. Two important processes that occur simultaneously in young stars are directly related to the final mass a star ends up with; the accretion of material onto the star from a circumstellar disk and the bipolar outflow of material from the star. These processes are related since the infalling material drives the outflow. The life span of circumstellar disks is also important for the possibility of life, as this limits the time available for planet formation. This may depend on the stellar mass and its environment.Three detailed observational case-studies are presented, a globule (B335) that is forming only one or two stars, a medium-sized star formation region (L1551) and a large cluster of young stars (YSOs) in a part of our nearest giant molecular cloud (L1641N).The first part of this thesis concerns finding YSOs by looking for mid-IR excess, indicative of circumstellar disks, using the ISO and Spitzer satellites in combination with ground-based observations. Other signs of youth are also used; H-alpha in emission (accretion), Li 6707 in absorption (Li is destroyed with age) and cloud membership based on extinction. The detection of 15 new YSO candidates in L1551 (Paper I) and 89 YSOs in L1641N (Paper II) is presented. In L1641N, distributions are presented of stellar age and mass. An empirical extinction law is found and the star formation history is presented. There seems to be an accelerated star formation with time. This can however also be explained, at least partly, by migration of older stars from the cluster - a migration that may very well be mass dependent.The second part concerns bipolar outflows. The discovery of six Herbig-Haro objects and at least 15 H2 objects in B335 is presented (Paper III) as well as proper motions for previously known objects. A planar shock model is used to calculate shock velocities. In L1641N (Paper IV) we discover a new outflow source and connect this to a number of H2 objects that are found to be part of this flow from proper motion measurements.

Aims: This is the first paper in a series dedicated to investigating the kinematic properties of nearby associations of young stellar objects. Here we study the Taurus-Auriga association, with the primary objective of deriving kinematic parallaxes for individual members of this low-mass star-forming region. Methods: We took advantage of a recently published catalog of proper motions for pre-main sequence stars, which we supplemented with radial velocities from various sources found in the CDS databases. We searched for stars of the Taurus-Auriga region that share the same space velocity, using a modified convergent point method that we tested with extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Results: Among the sample of 217 Taurus-Auriga stars with known proper motions, we identify 94 pre-main sequence stars that are probable members of the same moving group and several additional candidates whose pre-main sequence evolutionary status needs to be confirmed. We derive individual parallaxes for the 67 moving group members with known radial velocities and give tentative parallaxes for other members based on the average spatial velocity of the group. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for the moving group members and a discussion of their masses and ages are presented in a companion paper., Comment: accepted for publication by A&A

We present a JHKL survey of the massive star forming region RCW 57 (NGC 3576) based on L-band data at 3.5 micron taken with SPIREX (South Pole Infrared Explorer), and 2MASS JHK data at 1.25-2.2 micron. This is the second of two papers, the first one concerning a similar JHKL survey of 30 Doradus. Colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams are used to detect sources with infrared excess. This excess emission is interpreted as coming from circumstellar disks, and hence gives the cluster disk fraction (CDF). Based on the CDF and the age of RCW 57, it is possible to draw conclusions on the formation and early evolution of massive stars. The infrared excess is detected by comparing the locations of sources in JHKL colour-colour and L vs. (K-L) colour-magnitude diagrams to the reddening band due to interstellar extinction. A total of 251 sources were detected. More than 50% of the 209 sources included in the diagrams have an infrared excess. Comparison with other JHKL surveys, including the results on 30 Doradus from the first paper, support a very high initial disk fraction (>80%) even for massive stars, although there is an indication of a possible faster evolution of circumstellar disks around high mass stars. 33 sources only found in the L-band indicate the presence of heavily embedded, massive Class I protostars. We also report the detection of diffuse PAHs emission throughout the RCW 57 region.

Context. This is the third of a series of papers on simulating the mechanisms acting currently on the Oort cloud and producing the observed long-period comets. Aims. In this paper we investigate the influence of current stellar perturbers on the Oort cloud of comets under the simultaneous galactic disk tide. We also analyse the past motion of the observed long-period comets under the same dynamical model to verify the widely used definition of dynamically new comets. Methods. The action of nearby stars and the galactic disk tide on the Oort cloud was simulated. The original orbital elements of all 386 long-period comets of quality classes 1 and 2 were calculated, and their motion was followed numerically for one orbital revolution into the past, down to the previous perihelion. We also simulated the output of the close future pass of GJ 710 through the Oort cloud. Results. The simulated flux of the observable comets resulting from the current stellar and galactic perturbations, as well as the distribution of perihelion direction, was obtained. The same data are presented for the future passage of GJ 710. A detailed description is given of the past evolution of aphelion and perihelion distances of the observed long-period comets. Conclusions. We obtained no fingerprints of the stellar perturbations in the simulated flux and its directional structure. The mechanisms producing observable comets are highly dominated by galactic disk tide because all current stellar perturbers are too weak. Also the effect of the close passage of the star GJ 710 is very difficult to recognise on the background of the Galactic-driven observable comets. For the observed comets we found only 45 to be really dynamically "new" according to our definition based on the previous perihelion distance value.

We present the first in a series of papers that attempt to investigate the relation between binarity, magnetic activity, and chemical surface abundances of cool stars. In the current paper, we lay out and test two abundance analysis methods and apply them to two well-known, active, single stars, HD 27536 (G8IV-III) and HD 216803 (K5V), presenting photospheric fundamental parameters and abundances of Li, Al, Ca, Si, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Co and Ni. The abundances from the two methods agree within the errors for all elements except calcium in \hdeen, which means that either method yields the same fundamental model parameters and the same abundances. Activity is described by the radiative loss in the Ca II H & K lines with respect to the bolometric luminosity, through the activity index R_{HK}. Binarity is established by very precise radial velocity (RV) measurements using HARPS spectra. The spectral line bisectors are examined for correlations between RV and bisector shape to distinguish between the effects of stellar activity and unseen companions. We show that HD 27536 exhibit RV variations mimicking the effect of a low-mass (m ~ 4M_J) companion in a relatively close (a ~ 1AU) orbit. The variation is strongly correlated with the activity, and consistent with the known photometric period P = 306.9 d, demonstrating a remarkable coherence between R_{HK} and the bisector shape, i.e. between the photosphere and the chromosphere. We discuss the complications involved in distinguishing between companion and activity induced RV variations., 11 pages, 12 figures. A&A accepted

The chemical stratification is likely to play a predominant role in the excitation mechanism of high order modes in rapidly oscillating Ap stars. In this paper we discuss some processes (convection, He settling, mass loss and turbulent mixing) which may strongly affect the chemical composition of Ap stars. We discuss their interplay with a dipolar magnetic field in both magnetic polar and equatorial regions, where the magnetic lines are respectively mainly radially and horizontally oriented. We also present stellar evolutionary computations for magnetic Ap stars. As the magnetic geometry strongly breaks the sphericity of the star, we modeled and computed the polar and equatorial regions separately. We examine the effects of various chemical transport processes on the chemical stratification of both regions. In a forthcoming paper, we will study the stability of these models against pulsations.

In the first paper of this series, we presented a detailed high-resolution spectroscopic study of CPD - 41degr7742, deriving for the first time an orbital solution for both components of the system. In this second paper, we focus on the analysis of the optical light curve and on recent XMM-Newton X-ray observations. In the optical, the system presents two eclipses, yielding an inclination i ~ 77degr. Combining the constraints from the photometry with the results of our previous work, we derive the absolute parameters of the system. We confirm that the two components of CPD - 41degr7742 are main sequence stars (O9 V + B1-1.5 V) with masses (M_1 ~ 18 Msol and M_2 ~ 10 Msol) and respective radii (R_1 ~ 7.5 Rsol and R_2 ~ 5.4 Rsol) close to the typical values expected for such stars. We also report an unprecedented set of X-ray observations that almost uniformly cover the 2.44-day orbital cycle. The X-ray emission from CPD - 41degr7742 is well described by a two-temperature thermal plasma model with energies close to 0.6 and 1.0 keV, thus slightly harder than typical early-type emission. The X-ray light curve shows clear signs of variability. The emission level is higher when the primary is in front of the secondary. During the high emission state, the system shows a drop of its X-ray emission that almost exactly matches the optical eclipse. We interpret the main features of the X-ray light curve as the signature of a wind-photosphere interaction, in which the overwhelming primary O9 star wind crashes into the secondary surface. Alternatively the light curve could result from a wind-wind interaction zone located near the secondary star surface. As a support to our interpretation, we provide a phenomenological geometric model that qualitatively reproduces the observed modulations of the X-ray emission., Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Like most exoplanet host stars, HD 160691 (alias μ Ara) presents a metallicity excess in its spectrum compared to stars without detected planets. This excess may be primordial, in which case the star would be completely overmetallic, or it may be due to accretion in the early phases of planetary formation, in which case it would be overmetallic only in its outer layers. As discussed in a previous paper, seismology can help in choosing between the two scenarios. This star was observed during eight nights with the spectrograph HARPS at La Silla Observatory. Forty three p-modes were previously identified. In the present paper, we discuss the modelling of this star. We computed stellar models iterated to present the same observable parameters (luminosity, effective temperature, outer chemical composition) with differing internal structure according to the two extreme assumptions: original overmetallicity or accretion. We show that the seismic constraints lead to models in agreement with the external parameters deduced from spcctroscopy and from the Hipparcos parallax (L and T eff ). We show that the small separation seems to give a better fit for the accretion case than for the overmetallic case, but in spite of the very good data the uncertainties are still too large to he conclusive. We discuss the observations needed to resolve this question.

Despite a resurgence of effort over the last decade in the area of massive stars there is still ambiguity over their evolutionary path, contamination of their surface abundances and the behaviour of their stellar winds. Here 10 SMC B-type supergiants are analysed applying a unified model atmosphere code FASTWIND to intermediate resolution spectra from the ESO Multi Mode Instrument (EMMI) on the NTT telescope. Combined with the 8 targets analysed in paper 1, this work provides observational results on the properties of the winds and chemical compositions of B-type supergiants in the SMC. This paper emphasizes and substantiates the implications for stellar evolution from paper 1; that current theoretical models need to produce larger degrees of surface nitrogen enhancements at lower rotational velocities. In addition a significant discrepancy between theoretical and observed mass-loss rates is discussed which will have important implications for the rotational velocities obtained from stellar evolution calculations. Furthermore, an initial calibration of the wind-momentum luminosity relationship for B-type supergiants in a low metallicity environment (Z = 0.004) is presented., Comment: Accepted by A&A 5th Jan 2005, 14 pages, 9 postscript figures

The stellar population synthesis in unresolved composite objects is a very tricky problem. Indeed, it is a degenerate problem since many parameters affect the observables. The stellar population synthesis issue thus deserves a deep and rigourous analysis. In this paper we present a method of inversion which uses as observables the intensities at each pixel of a galactic spectrum and provides the stellar contribution to luminosity of all stars considered in a database. The main contribution of this paper to the synthesis problem is that it provides an analytical computation of the uncertainties accompanying a solution. This constitutes an important improvement relative to previous methods which do not provide such infomation except in the method described by Pelat (1997) and Moultaka & Pelat (2000). The latter uses the equivalent widths and intensities of stellar spectra in order to reproduce the equivalent widths of a galactic spectrum. The novelty of this work relative to the previous one is that the dust emission present in the IR spectra can be modeled as well as the velocity dispersion of stars that broadens the lines of a galactic spectrum. Tests are also performed in order to estimate the reliability of the method and the influence on the results of an additive continuum present in a studied spectrum, for example in the case of AGNs., 12 pages, 4 figures, 7 tables. In press in A&A

We present a new opacity sampling model atmosphere code, named MAFAGS-OS. This code, designed for stars reaching from A0 down to G9 on a solar and metal poor main sequence and up to an evolutionary stage represented by the turnoff is introduced in its basic input physics and modelling techniques. Fe I bound-free cross-sections of Bautista (1997) are used and convection is treated according to Canuto & Mazzitelli (1991). An α cm -parameter for the efficiency of convection of 0.82 is used as determined by Bernkopf (1998) from stellar evolution requirements. Within the process of opacity sampling, special attention is drawn to the matter of line selection. We show that a selection criterion, in which lines are chosen by their opacity weighted relative to the continuous background opacity, is useful and valid. The solar model calculated using this new code is shown to fit the measured solar flux distribution. It is also tested against the measured solar colours and leads to U - B = 0.21 and B - V = 0.64, in good agreement with observation. Comparison with measured centre-to-limb continuum data show only small improvement with respect to opacity-sampling type model atmospheres. This is the first of a series of 2 papers. Paper II will deal with the matter of temperature determination using Balmer lines and the infrared-flux method; furthermore it will present three standard stars analysed using this new model.

In the present paper we present JHK photometric results of the young embedded cluster NGC 2316. We construct the cluster radial profile from which we determine a radius of 0.63 pc. We find 189 $\pm$ 29 cluster members in an extinction limited sub-sample of the survey, 22 $\pm$ 19 of which are possibly substellar. An average extinction of 4.5 visual magnitudes is derived using (H-K) colours of control fields. This extinction is due to the presence of residual parental molecular cloud. NGC 2316 presents 16% source fraction of excess emission which is consistent with other results from clusters with an age of 2-3 Myr. This age is consistent with the distribution of sources in the colour-magnitude diagram when compared to theoretical isochrones, and the overall shape of the cluster KLF. The substellar population of the cluster is similar or smaller than that observed for other embedded clusters and the stellar objects dominate the cluster membership., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters. Full resolution images and paper available from http://www-cfa.harvard.edu/~pteixeir/NGC2316/

This paper reports on the spectroscopic investigation of 12 Cepheids which are situated in the crucial region ofgalactocentric distances from 9 kpc to 12 kpc, where according to our previous results (Andrievsky et al. 2002c; Luck et al. 2003) the radial metallicity distribution experiences an obvious change. In particular, the wriggle in the iron abundance distribution is found to fall approximately at galactocentric distances 10-11 kpc (assuming galactocentric distance of the Sun R G , O . = 7.9 kpc). Within the transition zone from 10 to 1I kpc the relative-to-solar iron abundance decreases approximately to -0.2 dex. The new sample of stars, analyzed in present paper, gives results supporting the previous conclusion about the multimodal character of the metallicity distribution in galactic disc. Using a quite simple consideration of galactic chemical evolution we show that the observed distribution can be explained in the framework of a model which includes the spiral arms. In particular, the wriggle feature associated with R G 11 kpc can be interpreted as a change of metallicity level in the vicinity of the galactic corotation resonance.

The present paper is the second of a series dedicated to the study of the magnetic activity in a selected sample of young solar analogues. The sample includes five single G0-G5V stars with ages between '130 Myr and 700 Myr: EK Dra, 1 UMa, HN Peg, k 1 Cet and BE Cet. In this study we also include the Pleiades-age ('130 Myr) K0V star DX Leo. Our analysis is based on high precision photometric observations carried out as part of The Sun in Timeproject, aimed at a multiwavelength study of stars with solar-like global properties, but with dierent ages and thus at dierent stages of evolution. In the first paper of this series we presented the photometric observations and determined the existence of starspot cycles and their correlation with the global stellar properties. In the present paper we investigate the surface dierential rotation (SDR). The periodogram analysis of the photometric data time series has allowed us to determine the rotational periods and to derive the following results: i) all the selected stars show variations of the rotational period. Such variations are definitely periodic and in phase with the starspot cycle for BE Cet and DX Leo. They are likely periodic and in phase also for 1 UMa, EK Dra and HN Peg, but still need confirmation. By analogy with the solar butterfly diagram, the rotational period variations are interpretable in terms of surface dierential rotation, that is, they are attributable to the existence of active latitude belts migrating during the activity cycle on a dierentially rotating star; ii) BE Cet, 1 UMa and EK Dra show a solar-like pattern of SDR, that is the rotational period steadily decreases along the activity cycle, jumping back to higher values at the beginning of the next cycle; on the contrary, DX Leo, k 1 Cet and HN Peg show an antisolar pattern; iii) the amplitude of the rotational period variations shows a power law dependence on the rotational period similar to that found in previous studies. Contrary to theoretical predictions, the cycle length is not correlated to the Dynamo number, it is indeed positively correlated to the SDR amplitude. More precisely, stars tend to concentrate along three dierent branches with the cycle length increasing with increasing/. Moreover, we found that the SDR amplitude changes from cycle to cycle, which is reminiscent of a wave of excess rotation propagating in latitude; iiii) the apparently dierent solar and antisolar behaviours are probably due to dierent inclinations of the stellar rotation axis under which the star is seen. The long-term photometry of the young single star LQ Hya, although not included in the initial project, is also used in the present analysis to enlarge the investigated sample. We determined for LQ Hya three dierent starspot cycles and an antisolar pattern of SDR.

A library of high resolution spectra of MK standard and reference stars, observed in support to the GAIA mission, is presented. The aim of this paper is to integrate the MK mapping of Paper I of this series as well as to consider stars over a wider range of metallicities. Radial velocities are measured for all the target stars.

This paper describes the derivation of an updated statistical catalog of metallicities. The stars for which those metallicities apply are of spectral types F, G, and K, and are on or near the main sequence. The input data for the catalog are values of [Fe/H] published before 2002 February and derived from lines of weak and moderate strength. The analyses used to derive the data have been based on one-dimensional LTE model atmospheres. Initial adjustments which are applied to the data include corrections to a uniform temperature scale which is given in a companion paper (see Taylor [CITE]). After correction, the data are subjected to a statistical analysis. For each of 941 stars considered, the results of that analysis include a mean value of [Fe/H], an rms error, an associated number of degrees of freedom, and one or more identification numbers for source papers. The catalog of these results supersedes an earlier version given by Taylor ([CITE]).

In this paper, we discuss how the integrated properties of intermediate-age single burst population, especially in the near-infrared, behave as a function of age and metallicity. Our models take into account all stellar evolutionary phases that affect the evolution of the integrated optical and near-infrared spectrum of such a population. Particular care was dedicated to the Asymptotic Giant Brach stars, which can be dominant at near-infrared wavelengths. First we present new synthetic model that takes into account the relevant physical processes that control the evolution through the thermally pulsing AGB. In the isochrone presented in this paper the lifetime and the nature of the AGB stars are established as consequences of the interplay between the physical processes that control the AGB star evolution. The contribution of these stars to the integrated light of the population is thus obtained in a consistent way. We optimize our models by using a new stellar library that explicitly takes into account the spectral features thar characterize only AGB stars in comparison to other cool and luminous stars (abriged), Accepted for publication in A&A, 19 pages

Following our study of the carbon-rich giants in the HR diagram and of their luminosity function (Paper III), we investigate the pulsation data of the long period variables (LPVs) included in our sample. Pulsation modes (fundamental, over- tone(s)) for carbon LPVs are identified in the period-radius diagram, making use of observed bi-periodicity in a small subsample of those stars, and of comparison to models. Mean pulsation masses are then deduced from theoretical PMR-relations, with due attention paid to a possible bias while averaging. Mean (present) pulsation masses (0:6 4:0 M) are found to increase along the group sequence HC5 to CV6, with still larger masses possibly associated with cool extreme CV7-objects with strong mass loss and thick circumstellar shells. This is con- sistent with the 0.8-4 M range of initial masses found in Paper III for the majority of carbon-rich giants aected by mass loss during their evolution. The pulsation masses found for a few HC-stars (M 0:8 M) are consistent with their low initial masses (Mi < 1:1 M); as inferred from their thick disk membership (age' 11 Gyr?) and locus in the HR diagram. A mean pulsation mass of'0:6 M is found for the three population II Cepheids in the sample. A mass-luminosity diagram is proposed for the Galactic carbon giants. The data from observations is found consistent with theoretical predictions from AGB modeling, specially the third dredge-up (TDU) through thermal pulses (TP) with a carbon star formation line (CSFL) for TP-AGB stars. It appears that the CV-giants are close to the tip and end of their evolutionary tracks in the TP-AGB of the HR diagram. It is confirmed that this end shifts toward lower eective temperatures and higher luminosities, with increasing masses. It is shown that the C/O abundance ratios do correlate with eective temperatures, according to three distinct distributions (halo CH stars, thick disk HC-stars, and thin disk CV-stars). The mean stellar density decreases along the HC5-CV7 sequence, while the surface gravity remains nearly constant at about 0.5 CGS unit logg' 0:3; 5 10 3 SI : The nature of (thin disk) CV-stars as TP-AGB objects being confirmed, the discussion is focused on (thick disk) HC-stars since the origin of these old low-mass giants remains unclear. Unpredicted extra mixing on RGB and/or E-AGB is favored. Evolution from (old, low O/H) dwarf carbon stars is also considered since observations of metal-poor stars and recent calculations point to large supersolar (C=Fe) ratios in Population III objects and contamination through rapid cycling in the interstellar medium.

Among the several methods to study differential rotation on stellar surfaces the observation of a stellar butterfly diagram, i.e. monitoring the rotation period over a complete activity cycle, is the only method which canbe applied to stars rotating as slow as the Sun. However, the method requires active belts on the stellar surface which are moving continously in stellar latitude during a cycle. In addition, an appropriate activity tracer showing rotational modulation is needed. Tracers which even work for slowly rotating, i.e. weakly active, stars are the emission cores of certain spectral lines. However, the question is whether surface differential rotation can be determined from this kind of observations and furthermore, which method of analysis is best suited to yield a correct result. We investigate observations of the Sun as a star, i.e. disk-integrated measurements, to answer these questions. In a Paper I it was demonstrated that time-frequency analysis using the wavelet transform is possibly a suitable method for monitoring the stellar butterfly diagram. It was also shown that - in comparison with Fourier analysis - wavelet analysis of disk-integrated solar Ca II K line core emission measures yield a much more realistic pattern of the solar differential rotation. In this Paper II disk-integrated solar measures in Mg II h+k and Lyman a taken from public UARLS Solstice data are analysed using the same methods as in Paper I. In these data solar rotational modulation is much more pronounced than in earlier Ca II K time-series. Wavelet analysis yields the following results: from the beginning of the time-series in 1991 until the end of solar cycle 22 the period of rotational modulation remains stable at 26.9-27.0 days. It is followed by a jump to 27.6 days when the new cycle 23 starts. Then the period rapidly decreases to 26.9 days again until the end of the time-series in 1999. However, the analysis is hampered by frequent period splitting into two modes. It can be shown that this kind of splitting results from phase jumps in the time-series coming from active region growth and decay at 180° shifted solar longitudes.

In this paper we review the spectroscopic diagnostic techniques that can be applied to XUV observations of active stars. In particular, we discuss methods for the determination of electron densities, emission measures and the chemical composition of the stellar transition regions and coronae. We pay particular attention to the atomic data used and we revise several previous analyses with the most recent atomic data (from CHIANTI). We nd severe limitations to some of the commonly used methods and atomic data and we obtain results which are signicantly dierent from other authors. We illustrate this with a number of examples. We analyse a combined set of multi-wavelength observations (EUVE, HST/STIS, FUSE) for the quiescent phase of the dMe star AU Mic. A major conclusion of this paper is that the use of spectral lines from the Li and Na isoelectronic sequences, common in previous literature, produces erroneous results in the determination of emission measures, elemental abundances and transition region densities.

We use differential CCD photometry to search for variability in BVI among 990 stars projected in and around the old open cluster M 67. In a previous paper we reported results for 22 cluster members that are optical counterparts to X-ray sources; this study focuses on the other stars in our observations. A variety of sampling rates were employed, allowing variability on time scales ranging from \sim 0.3 hours to \sim 20 days to be studied. Among the brightest sources studied, detection of variability as small as sigma approx 10 mmag is achieved (with > 3 sigma confidence); for the typical star observed, sensitivity to variability at levels sigma approx 20 mmag is achieved. The study is unbiased for stars with 12.5 < B < 18.5, 12.5 < V < 18.5, and 12 < I < 18 within a radius of about 10 arcmin from the cluster centre. In addition, stars with 10 < BVI < 12.5 were monitored in a few small regions in the cluster. We present photometry for all 990 sources studied, and report the variability characteristics of those stars found to be variable at a statistically significant level. Among the variables, we highlight several sources that merit future study, including stars located on the cluster binary sequence, stars on the giant branch, blue stragglers, and a newly discovered W UMa system., 12 pages, including 6 figures and 5 tables. Tables 1 and 3 only available in electronic version of paper. Accepted by A&A

Carbon monoxide is the most abundant molecule after H$_2$ and is important for chemistry in circumstellar envelopes around late-type stars. The size of the envelope is important when modelling low-J transition lines and deriving mass-loss rates from such lines. Now that ALMA is coming to full power the extent of the CO emitting region can be measured directly for nearby asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. In parallel, it has become obvious in the past few years that the strength of the interstellar radiation field (ISRF) can have a significant impact on the interpretation of the emission lines. In this paper an update and extension of the classical Mamon et al. (1988; ApJ 328, 797) paper is presented; these authors provided the CO abundance profile, described by two parameters, as a function of mass-loss rate and expansion velocity. Following recent work an improved numerical method and updated H$_2$ and CO shielding functions are used and a larger grid is calculated that covers more parameter space, including the strength of the ISRF. The effect of changing the photodissociation radius on the low-J CO line intensities is illustrated in two cases., Comment: A&A in press

Context. The structure characteristics of the critically-rotating accretor in binaries are investigated in this paper, on the basis of the potential function including rotational and tidal distortions.Aims. Our aim is to investigate the structure of the accretor when the accreting star reaches the critical velocity.Methods. In this paper, we have implemented the prescription described by Kippenhahn & Thomas (, Proc. IAU Colloq., 4, 20) and Landin et al. (, A&A, 494, 209).Results. The traditional model merely included the hydrodynamical effect of rotation. When comparing this model with ours, we find that it is very necessary for the rapidly rotating accreting star to include the gravitational potentials from tides Ψtide , and the distortions of the star resulting from rotation Ψdis,rot . Furthermore, we find that the mean effective gravitational acceleration can be decreased in the distort model, and the star shifts towards low temperature and low luminosity. Rotation and tides can extend the convection zone below the surface, and reduce the convective core in the center of stars due to the Solberg-Hoiland criterion. Rotational distortions derived from Ψdis,rot can intensify the critical velocity whereas the tide force derived from Ψtide tends to reduce the critical velocity. Rapid rotation induced by mass transfer also causes the central temperature to decrease, and triggers efficient mixing which can significantly modify the H-profile.

Massive stars likely played an important role in the reionization of the Universe, and the formation of the first black holes. Massive stars in low-metallicity environments in the local Universe are reminiscent of their high redshift counterparts. In a previous paper, we reported on indications that the stellar winds of low-metallicity O stars may be stronger than predicted, which would challenge the current paradigm of massive star evolution. In this paper, we aim to extend our initial sample of six O stars in low-metallicity environments by four. We aim to derive their stellar and wind parameters, and compare these to radiation-driven wind theory and stellar evolution models. We have obtained intermediate-resolution VLT/X-Shooter spectra of our sample of stars. We derive the stellar parameters by fitting synthetic fastwind line profiles to the VLT/X-Shooter spectra using a genetic fitting algoritm. We compare our parameters to evolutionary tracks and obtain evolutionary masses and ages. We also investigate the effective temperature versus spectral type calibration for SMC and lower metallicities. Finally, we reassess the wind momentum versus luminosity diagram. The derived parameters of our target stars indicate stellar masses that reach values of up to 50 $M_{\odot}$. The wind strengths of our stars are, on average, stronger than predicted from radiation-driven wind theory and reminiscent of stars with an LMC metallicity. We discuss indications that the iron content of the host galaxies is higher than originally thought and is instead SMC-like. We find that the discrepancy with theory is lessened, but remains significant for this higher metallicity. This may imply that our current understanding of the wind properties of massive stars, both in the local universe as well as at cosmic distances, remains incomplete., Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 10 pages, 8 figures

The identification of post-T Tauri (pTT) stars selected through spectroscopic criteria by Pallavicini et al. ([CITE]) and by Martin et al. (1992) among the candidates belonging to visual binary systems is revisited in the present paper by studying their position in the HR diagram. These stars belong to the so-called Lindroos binary sample (Lindroos [CITE]), i.e. to systems with early-type primaries and late-type companions. If these binaries are physical and not simply optical pairs, similar ages must be found for the early-type primary and the late-type component of each system. The ages of these systems have been derived by Lindroos in 1986, by using calibrations of the uvby indices. In this paper, we revisit these ages through the position of these stars among new evolutionary tracks in the HR diagram for pre-and post-main sequence stars. We derive new estimations of the ages of each system component, as well as their masses, using parallaxes of the early-type component derived from Hipparcos data and by forcing the late-type companion to be at the same distance. and of the early-type components have been computed using the calibrations of two independent photometric systems: the uvby photometry and the Geneva system. The of the late-type stars have been determined by using various calibrations of several photometric systems: uvby , UBV and VRI , in order to determine the uncertainties and systematic errors on these parameters and consequently on the ages. Differences in the ages and masses obtained by using various sources of recent evolutionary models are considered and discussed. The consistency of the age of the late type component with that of its early type primary is examined; the validity of this criterion for a selection of physical pairs is discussed. The accuracy of the observational and theoretical data are not sufficient to assign stringent values to the age for several of the examined systems. Nevertheless, in spite of the large error bars, we have established that we could select a number of systems which, according to their position in the HR diagram, may be physically associated. The selection of possible physically bounded systems obtained with the present approach and that made by Pallavicini et al. ([CITE]) or Martin et al. (1992) on the basis of spectroscopic criteria are not always coincident. Spectroscopic criteria, for example the presence of a strong Li feature, are more stringent conditions than that of coherent ages of primaries and secondaries; however the Li I 6708 doublet is expected to fade in the latest stages of the pre-main sequence life of a star, so that the "oldest" pTTs may not be detected by spectroscopy only. The different results so obtained are discussed for each system and we conclude that the present approach may be used as a powerful criterion to select new pTT candidates in visual binaries to be observed and analyzed with high resolution spectrographs and to select candidates that have almost reached the main sequence.

For the old galactic cluster NGC 6791, Peterson & Green (1998a) and Chaboyer et al. (1999) have found that (Fe/H) +0:4 dex. A second look at that conclusion is taken in this paper. Zero-point problems are reviewed for a high-dispersion analysis done by Peterson & Green, and it is found that accidental errors have not been determined rigorously for the results of that analysis. It is also noted that in a color-magnitude analysis performed by Chaboyer et al., the important metallicity range between 0.0 and +0:3 dex is not explored and hence is not ruled out. Moreover, that analysis does not yield statistically rigorous results, and it appears that such results may not be produced in color-magnitude analysis of clusters in general. Results in the two cited papers and elsewhere are re-evaluated statistically, with an allowance being made for uncertainty in the cluster reddening. Apparently the best that can be said at present is that the cluster metallicity lies in the range from +0:16 to +0:44 dex. This conclusion is stressed by reviewing the immaturity of the underlying data base. The premature conclusion for a high metallicity turns out to be due largely to neglect of accidental errors, though a tendency to ascribe too much weight to high derived metallicities may also play a role.

The H$\alpha$ velocity fields of a sample of six luminous blue compact galaxies (BCGs) and two companions have been obtained by observations with a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer. The Fabry-Perot images, velocity fields and rotations curves have been presented in a previous paper (Paper I). In general, the velocity fields are irregular and often contain secondary dynamical components, but display overall rotation. The two companions have more regular velocity fields and rotation curves. In this article we analyse the velocity fields and dynamics together with the morphology of the studied BCGs, and present detailed mass models. In addition, we model the stellar mass content by means of multicolour surface photometry and spectral evolutionary synthesis analysis. By comparison of the masses of stars and those derived from the rotation curve, we show that about half of the galaxies cannot be supported by rotation alone. The morphology and dynamics of the BCGs suggest that the starburst activity in these galaxies are most likely triggered by mergers involving gas-rich dwarf galaxies and/or massive gas clouds., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 22 pages, 13 figures (Grey-scale figures have slightly reduced resolution)

In this paper we complete the library of synthetic spectra for the range 7650-8750 A, which includes the 8500-8750 Ainterval currently base-lined for the spectroscopic observations by GAIA, candidate ESA Cornerstone 5 mission. As for Paper II, the spectra are based on Kurucz's codes and line data. The explored metallicity, gravity and temperature ranges are $-2.5\leq [Z/Z_\odot]\leq +0.5$, $4.5\leq\log g\leq 2.0$ and $7750\leq$ $T\rm_{eff}$ $\leq50 000$ K, respectively. The 698 new spectra are computed at the same $\lambda/\!\bigtriangleup\lambda=20 000$ resolving power of the observed spectra given in Paper I (131 standard stars mapping the MKK spectral classification system) and the 254 synthetic spectra of Paper II (characterized by $T\rm_{eff}$ $\leq 7 500$ K).

Context. Detached eclipsing binaries (dEBs) are ideal targets for accurately measuring the masses and radii of their component stars. If at least one of the stars has evolved off the main sequence (MS), the masses and radii give a strict constraint on the age of the stars. Several dEBs containing a bright K giant and a fainter MS star have been discovered by the Kepler satellite. The mass and radius of a red giant (RG) star can also be derived from its asteroseismic signal. The parameters determined in this way depend on stellar models and may contain systematic errors. It is important to validate the asteroseismically determined mass and radius with independent methods. This can be done when stars are members of stellar clusters or members of dEBs.Aims. This paper presents an analysis of the dEB system KIC 8410637, which consists of an RG and an MS star. The aim is to derive accurate masses and radii for both components and provide the foundation for a strong test of the asteroseismic method and the accuracy of the deduced mass, radius, and age.Methods. We analysed high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise spectra from three different spectrographs. We also calculated a fit to the Kepler light curve and used ground-based photometry to determine the flux ratios between the component stars in the BVRI passbands.Results. We measured the masses and radii of the stars in the dEB, and the classical parameters Teff, log g, and [Fe/H] from the spectra and ground-based photometry. The RG component of KIC 8410637 is most likely in the core helium-burning red clump phase of evolution and has an age and composition that are very similar to the stars in the open cluster NGC 6819. The mass of the RG in KIC 8410637 should therefore be similar to the mass of RGs in NGC 6819, thus lending support to the latest version of the asteroseismic scaling relations. This is the first direct measurement of both mass and radius for an RG to be compared with values for RGs from asteroseismic scaling relations thereby providing an accurate comparison. We find excellent agreement between log g values derived from the binary analysis and asteroseismic scaling relations.Conclusions. We have determined the masses and radii of the two stars in the binary accurately. A detailed asteroseismic analysis will be presented in a forthcoming paper, allowing an informative comparison between the parameters determined for the dEB and from asteroseismology.

Context. The APOGEE survey has obtained high-resolution infrared spectra of more than 100,000 stars. Deriving chemical abundances patterns of these stars is paramount to piecing together the structure of the Milky Way. While the derived chemical abundances have been shown to be precise for most stars, some calibration problems have been reported, in particular for more metal- poor stars. Aims. In this paper, we aim to (1) re-determine the chemical abundances of the APOGEE+Kepler stellar sample (APOKASC) with an independent procedure, line list and line selection, and high quality surface gravity information from astroseismology, and (2) extend the abundance catalogue by including abundances that are not currently reported in the most recent APOGEE release (DR12). Methods. We fixed the Teff and log g to those determined using spectrophotometric and asteroseismic techniques, respectively. We made use of the Brussels Automatic Stellar Parameter (BACCHUS) code to derive the metallicity and broadening parameters for the APOKASC sample. In addition, we derived differential abundances with respect to Arcturus. Results. We have validated the BACCHUS code on APOGEE data using several well-known stars, and stars from open and globular clusters. We also provide the abundances of C, N, O, Mg, Ca, Si, Ti, S, Al, Na, Ni, Mn, Fe, K, P, Cr, Co, Cu, Rb, Yb and V for every star, line, and show the impact of line selection on the final abundances. These include abundances of five new elements and improved abundances for Si, Ti, S, and V. Conclusions. In this paper, we present an independent analysis of the APOKASC sample and provide abundances of up to 21 elements. This catalogue can be used not only to study chemical abundance patterns of the Galaxy but also to train data driven spectral approaches which can improve the abundance precision in a restricted dataset, but also full APOGEE sample., 17 Pages, 16 Figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

CONTEXT. A number of recent papers have claimed the discovery of an X-shape structure in the bulge of our Galaxy in the population of the red clumps. AIMS. We endeavor to analyze the stellar density of bulge stars in the same regions using a different stellar population that is characteristic of the young bulge ($\lesssim 5$ Gyr). Particularly, we use F0-F5 main-sequence stars with distances derived through photometric parallax. METHODS. We extract these stars from extinction-corrected color-magnitude diagrams in the near-infrared of VISTA-VVV data in some bulge regions and calculate the densities along the line of sight. We take the uncertaintity in the photometric parallax and the contamination of other sources into account, and we see that these errors do not avoid the detection of a possible double peak along some lines of sight as expected for a X-shape bulge if it existed. RESULTS. Only a single peak in the density distribution along the line of sight is observed, so apparently there is no X-shape structure for this population of stars. Nonetheless, the effects of the dispersion of absolute magnitudes in the selected population might be an alternative explanation, although in principle these effects are insufficient to explain this lack of double peak according to our calculations. CONCLUSIONS. The results of the present paper do not demonstrate that previous claims of X-shaped bulge using only red clump stars are incorrect, but there are apparently some puzzling questions if we want to maintain the validity of both the red-clump results and the results of this paper., 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted to be published in A&A

The Nainital-Cape survey is a dedicated ongoing survey programme to search for and study pulsational variability in chemically peculiar (CP) stars to understand their internal structure and evolution. The main aims of this survey are to find new pulsating Ap and Am stars in the northern and southern hemisphere and to perform asteroseismic studies of these new pulsators. The survey is conducted using high-speed photometry. The candidate stars were selected on the basis of having Stromgren photometric indices similar to those of known pulsating CP stars. Over the last decade a total of 337 candidate pulsating CP stars were observed for the Nainital-Cape survey, making it one of the longest ground-based surveys for pulsation in CP stars in terms of time span and sample size. The previous papers of this series presented seven new pulsating variables and 229 null results. In this paper we present the light curves, frequency spectra and the various astrophysical parameters of the 108 additional CP stars observed since the last reported results. We have also tabulated the basic physical parameters of the known roAp stars. As part of establishing the detection limits in the Nainital-Cape survey, we investigated the scintillation noise level at the two observing sites used in this survey, Sutherland and Nainital, by comparing the combined frequency spectra stars observed from each location. Our analysis shows that both the sites permit the detection of variations on the order of 0.6 milli-magnitude (mmag) in the frequency range 1-4 mHz, with Sutherland being marginally better, on average.

In this paper, we aim to derive high-precision alpha-element abundances using CRIRES high-resolution IR spectra of 72 cool M giants of the inner Galactic bulge. Silicon, magnesium, and calcium abundances were determined by fitting a synthetic spectrum for each star. We also incorporated recent theoretical data into our spectroscopic analysis (i.e. updated K-band line list, better broadening parameter estimation, non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) corrections). We compare these inner bulge alpha abundance trends with those of solar neighbourhood stars observed with IGRINS using the same line list and analysis technique; we also compare our sample to APOGEE DR17 abundances for inner bulge stars. We investigate bulge membership using spectro-photometric distances and orbital simulations. We construct a chemical-evolution model that fits our metallicity distribution function (MDF) and our alpha-element trends. Among our 72 stars, we find four that are not bulge members. [Si/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] versus [Fe/H] trends show a typical thick disc alpha-element behaviour, except that we do not see any plateau at supersolar metallicities as seen in other works. The NLTE analysis lowers [Mg/Fe] typically by $\sim$0.1 dex, resulting in a noticeably lower trend of [Mg/Fe] versus [Fe/H]. The derived [Ca/Fe] versus [Fe/H] trend has a larger scatter than those for Si and Mg, but is in excellent agreement with local thin and thick disc trends. With our updated analysis, we constructed one of the most detailed studies of the alpha abundance trends of cool M giants in the inner Galactic bulge. We modelled these abundances by adopting a two-infall chemical-evolution model with two distinct gas-infall episodes with timescales of 0.4 Gyr and 2 Gyr, respectively. Based on a very meticulous spectral analysis, we have constructed detailed and precise chemical abundances of Mg, Si, and Ca for cool M giants., Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures