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A Connection Between V/R and Polarization in Be Stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

David McDavid ,
K.S. Bjorkman ,
J.E. Bjorkman  and
A.T. Okazaki
David McDavid
Affiliation:
Limber Observatory, Timber Creek Road, P. O. Box 63599, Pipe Creek TX 78063-3599
K.S. Bjorkman
Affiliation:
Ritter Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo OH 43606-3390
J.E. Bjorkman
Affiliation:
Ritter Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo OH 43606-3390
A.T. Okazaki
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering, Hokkai-Gakuen University, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo 062-8605, Japan

Abstract

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Okazaki (1991) and Papaloizou, Savonije, & Henrichs (1992) suggested that the quasi-cyclic V/R variability observed in the emission line profiles of many Be stars is caused by a precessing one-armed density wave in the circumstellar disk. It seems likely that the changing aspect of such a non-axisymmetric density pattern might also lead to a related variation of the continuum polarization. We have searched for such an effect in two well-studied Be shell stars, ζ Tau and 48 Lib, based on data compiled from several groups of observers from 1984 to 1998. Using the Monte Carlo radiation transfer code of Wood, Bjorkman, Whitney, & Code (1996), we have calculated the polarization due to electron scattering in Be disks in the presence of one-armed density perturbations. Although the notorious long and short term deviations from strict periodicity present in Be stars make it difficult to rigorously demonstrate the connection between the V/R variability and the polarization variations, we have been able to find specific modes that are consistent with the observed V/R line profile variations together with the suspected polarization cycles.

Type
6. Disks
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 175: The Be Phenomenon in Early-Type Stars , 2000 , pp. 460 - 463
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2000

References

Okazaki, A.T. 1991, PASJ 43, 75 Google Scholar
Papaloizou, J.C., Savonije, G.J., & Henrichs, H.F. 1992, A&A 265, 45 Google Scholar
Wood, K., Bjorkman, J.E., Whitney, B.A., & Code, A.D. 1996, ApJ 461, 828 Google Scholar