Modulation of the Blazhko Cycle in LS Her

• Published in: The Astronomical journal 2023-05, Vol.165 (5), p.194
• Main Authors: Wilhelm, Ronald, Carrell, Kenneth, Means, Hannah H., Popowicz, Adam, Bernacki, Krzysztof, Frąckiewicz, Mariusz, Szczepański, Marek, Dustor, Adam, Lockett, Jaylon, Taylor, Jill, Youngquist, Stasha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomy; Blazhko effect; Extrasolar planets; Fourier analysis; Frequency analysis; Ground-based observation; Modulation; Planet detection; RR Lyrae variable stars; RRc variable stars; Stability; Stars; Transit; Variable stars
• ISSN: 0004-6256; 1538-3881
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/acc4ba

We present analysis of the RR Lyrae star, LS Her, and confirm the previously reported modulation to its Blazhko cycles. We performed Fourier analysis on two sectors (Sector 24 and 25) of data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) spanning 53 days. We find LS Her to have a primary pulsation period of 0.2308 day and a Blazhko period of 12.7 days in keeping with previously reported results. We also identified sideband frequencies around the Blazhko multiplets suggesting the Blazhko cycle is modulated on a timescale of 112 days. Analysis of the Blazhko effect using the TESS data clearly shows a changing amplitude and phase throughout the four Blazhko cycles. We compared our modeled results, which were based on our TESS frequency analysis, to TESS data (Sector 51) taken ∼700 days later and found our modulation model was not a good representation of the data. We then coupled our TESS analysis with the modulation frequency results from Wils et al. and found excellent agreement with the Sector 51 data. To further test this result we obtained ground-based, V -magnitude observations of LS Her in the summer of 2022. This data also showed excellent agreement with our coupled modulation model. We have verified that LS Her is a Blazhko star with a modulated Blazhko period of 109 days, stability over the 862 days of observations, and possible stability lasting over 15 yr. We discuss the ramifications of the modulation for other Blazhko stars that show Blazhko effect changes over time.