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We demonstrate that a seismic analysis of stars in their earliest evolutionary phases is a powerful method with which to identify young stars and distinguish their evolutionary states. The early star that is born from the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud reaches at some point sufficient temperature, mass, and luminosity to be detected. Accretion stops, and the pre–main sequence star that emerges is nearly fully convective and chemically homogeneous. It will continue to contract gravitationally until the density and temperature in the core are high enough to start nuclear burning of hydrogen. We show that there is a relationship for a sample of young stars between detected pulsation properties and their evolutionary status, illustrating the potential of asteroseismology for the early evolutionary phases.

Millisecond spinning, low-magnetic-field neutron stars are believed to attain their fast rotation in a 0.1–1-Gyr-long phase during which they accrete matter endowed with angular momentum from a low-mass companion star 1 . Despite extensive searches, coherent periodicities originating from accreting neutron star magnetospheres have been detected only at X-ray energies 2 and in ~10% of the currently known systems 3 . Here we report the detection of optical and ultraviolet coherent pulsations at the X-ray period of the transient low-mass X-ray binary system SAX J1808.4−3658, during an accretion outburst that occurred in August 2019 4 . At the time of the observations, the pulsar was surrounded by an accretion disk, displayed X-ray pulsations and its luminosity was consistent with magnetically funnelled accretion onto the neutron star. Current accretion models fail to account for the luminosity of both optical and ultraviolet pulsations; these are instead more likely to be driven by synchro-curvature radiation 5 , 6 in the pulsar magnetosphere or just outside of it. This interpretation would imply that particle acceleration can take place even when mass accretion is going on, and opens up new perspectives in the study of coherent optical/ultraviolet pulsations from fast-spinning accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binary systems. Outbursts from accreting pulsars encode much information on mass accretion in X-ray binary systems. Measuring optical as well as X-ray pulsations can constrain models and, indeed, point to particle acceleration taking place during accretion.

HR 6902 was the first target of a systematic study by Griffin (1986, JApA , 7, 195) of binaries showing composite spectra. It is also a well-studied member of the ζ Aur class. ζ Aur systems are long-period eclipsing binaries that are comprised of an evolved giant primary and a hot dwarf companion. Although those component stars have very different effective temperatures they have similar luminosities in the blue and near-UV regions, and hence display a composite spectrum at those wavelengths. In principle the ζ Aur systems are excellent tests of evolutionary and structural stellar models. In recent years the somewhat fragmentary eclipse photometry of HR 6902 has been out-classed by the high-precision continuous monitoring by the space mission CoRoT. HR 6902 was selected as a primary target of its seismology field, because the possible detection of solar-like pulsations in a giant component of a double-lined eclipsing binary could help to calibrate the scaling relation of giant pulsators. Our poster reported the results of a new analysis based on the CoRoT observations and follow-up spectroscopy with HARPS at the ESO 3.6-m telescope at La Silla. The unprecedented accuracy of the CoRoT photometry enabled us to: improve drastically the accuracy of the binary orbit and stellar parameters (by a factor ~10 for the radii) extend the test of validity/calibration of the scaling relations to high stellar mass and radius, and put constraints on the evolutionary state (particularly since this binary is certainly free from tidal effects).

The study of RR Lyrae stars has recently been invigorated thanks to the long, uninterrupted, ultra-precise time series data provided by the Kepler and CoRoT space telescopes. We give a brief overview of the new observational findings concentrating on the connection between period doubling and the Blazhko modulation, and the omnipresence of additional periodicities in all RR Lyrae subtypes, except for non-modulated RRab stars. Recent theoretical results demonstrate that if more than two modes are present in a nonlinear dynamical system such as a high-amplitude RR Lyrae star, the outcome is often an extremely intricate dynamical state. Thus, based on these discoveries, an underlying picture of complex dynamical interactions between modes is emerging which sheds new light on the century-old Blazhko-phenomenon, as well. New directions of theoretical efforts, like multidimensional hydrodynamical simulations, future space photometric missions and detailed spectroscopic investigations will pave the way towards a more complete understanding of the atmospheric and pulsation dynamics of these enigmatic touchstone objects.

We report the observations of a main-sequence star, HD 42618 (Teff 5765 K, G3V) by the space telescope CoRoT. This is the closest star to the Sun ever observed by CoRoT in term of its fundamental parameters. Using a preliminary version of CoRoT light curves of HD 42618, p modes are detected around 3.2 mHz associated to ℓ 0, 1 and 2 modes with a large spacing of 142 μHz. Various methods are then used to derive the mass and radius of this star (scaling relations from solar values as well as comparison between theoretical and observationnal frequencies) giving values in the range of (0.80 − 1.02)M⊙ and (0.91 − 1.01)R⊙. A preliminary analysis of ℓ 0 and 1 modes allows us also to study the amount of penetrative convection at the base of the convective envelope.

To optimise the science results of the asteroseismic part of the CoRoT satellite mission a complementary simultaneous ground-based observational campaign is organised for selected CoRoT targets. The observations include both high-resolution spectroscopic and multicolour photometric data. We present the preliminary results of the analysis of the ground-based observations of three targets. A line-profile analysis of 216 high-resolution FEROS spectra of the δ Sct star HD 50844 reveals more than ten pulsation frequencies in the frequency range 5-18 d-1, including possibly one radial fundamental mode (6.92 d-1). Based on more than 600 multi-colour photometric datapoints of the β Cep star HD 180642, spanning about three years and obtained with different telescopes and different instruments, we confirm the presence of a dominant radial mode ν1 5.48695 d-1, and detect also its first two harmonics. We find evidence for a second mode ν2 0.3017 d-1, possibly a g-mode, and indications for two more frequencies in the 7-8 d-1 domain. From Stromgren photometry we find evidence for the hybrid 5 Sct/γ Dor character of the F0 star HD 44195, as frequencies near 3 d-1 and 21 d-1 are detected simultaneously in the different filters.

In this paper we describe a new class of pulsating stars, the prototype of which is the bright, early, F‐type dwarf γ Doradus. These stars typically have between 1 and 5 periods ranging from 0.4 to 3 days with photometric amplitudes up to 0.1 mag in JohnsonV. The mechanism for these observed variations is high‐order, low‐degree, nonradial, gravity‐mode pulsation.

In 2005 a photometric observation campaign started on the open cluster χ Persei, involving 13 telescopes spread over the whole northern hemisphere. After two years we gathered almost 1200 hours of data. We present here preliminary results on the variability search, especially from the 60-cm telescope in Bialków (Poland), which show seven confirmed β Cephei stars, four candidate B-type pulsators and other interesting variable stars.

HR 6902 was the first target of a systematic study by Griffin (1986, JApA, 7, 195) of binaries showing composite spectra. It is also a well-studied member of the ζ Aur class. ζ Aur systems are long-period eclipsing binaries that are comprised of an evolved giant primary and a hot dwarf companion. Although those component stars have very different effective temperatures they have similar luminosities in the blue and near-UV regions, and hence display a composite spectrum at those wavelengths. In principle the ζ Aur systems are excellent tests of evolutionary and structural stellar models. In recent years the somewhat fragmentary eclipse photometry of HR 6902 has been out-classed by the high-precision continuous monitoring by the space mission CoRoT. HR 6902 was selected as a primary target of its seismology field, because the possible detection of solar-like pulsations in a giant component of a double-lined eclipsing binary could help to calibrate the scaling relation of giant pulsators. Our poster reported the results of a new analysis based on the CoRoT observations and follow-up spectroscopy with HARPS at the ESO 3.6-m telescope at La Silla. The unprecedented accuracy of the CoRoT photometry enabled us to: improve drastically the accuracy of the binary orbit and stellar parameters (by a factor ~10 for the radii)extend the test of validity/calibration of the scaling relations to high stellar mass and radius, and put constraints on the evolutionary state (particularly since this binary is certainly free from tidal effects).

Λ cold-dark-matter hierarchical models of galaxy formation suggest that the halo of the Milky Way (MW) has been assembled, at least in part, through accretion of protogalactic fragments partially resembling the present-day dwarf spheroidal (dSph) satellites of the MW. Investigation of the stellar populations of the MW's globular clusters (GCs) and dSph companions can thus provide excellent tests to infer the dominant Galaxy-formation scenario, whether merger/accretion or cloud collapse. Pulsating variable stars offer a very powerful tool in this context, since variables of different types allow tracing the different stellar generations in a galaxy and to reconstruct the galaxy's star-formation history and assembly back to the first epochs of galaxy formation. In particular, the RR Lyrae stars, belonging to the old population (t > 10 Gyr), witnessed the epoch of halo formation, and thus hold a crucial role to identify the MW satellites that may have contributed to build up the Galactic halo. In the MW, most GCs with an RR Lyrae population sharply divide into two distinct groups (Oosterhoff types I and II) based on the mean periods and relative proportion of fundamental-mode (RRab) and first-overtone (RRc) RR Lyrae stars. On the other hand, the Galactic-halo field RR Lyrae stars show a dominance of Oosterhoff I properties. Here, we investigate the Oosterhoff properties of a number of different stellar systems, starting from relatively undisturbed dwarf galaxies (the Fornax dSph and its globular clusters), through distorted and tidally disrupting ones (the Bootes and Canes Venatici II dSphs), to possible final relics of the disruption process (the Galactic globular cluster NGC 2419). We are addressing the crucial question of whether the RR Lyrae pulsation properties in these systems conform to the Oosterhoff dichotomy characterizing the MW variables. If they do not, the Galaxy's halo cannot have been assembled by dSph-like protogalactic fragments resembling the present-day dSph companions of the MW. We have reduced and combined long time series from different telescopes, both ground- and space-based. Variable stars have been detected with image-subtraction techniques using the package isis2.1. Periods, amplitudes and Oosterhoff type for all variable stars, as well as color–magnitude diagrams of the stellar populations are discussed for each stellar cluster analyzed.