Variations in Line Profiles of Atomic Transitions in RR Lyrae Stars

Abstract

We have investigated the absorption shapes of atomic lines and H α in RR Lyrae stars. We used the database of high-resolution spectra gathered with the Las Campanas Observatory du Pont Telescope, analyzing a set of about 2700 short exposure spectra of 17 RRab and 5 RRc variables. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra for each star, we first coadded spectra in small photometric phase bins, and then coadded metallic line profiles in velocity space. The resulting line absorption shapes vary with photometric phase in a consistent manner for all RRab stars, while exhibiting no obvious phase-related variations for the RRc stars. We interpret these line profile variations in terms of velocity gradients in the photospheric layers that produce absorption line profiles. The H α profiles are much broader, indicative of shock temperatures of order 100,000 K.

Keywords

• RRab variable stars
• RRc variable stars
• Stellar abundances
• Stellar atmospheres