THE CLASSIFICATION OF KEPLER B-STAR VARIABLES

• Published in: The Astronomical journal 2012-04, Vol.143 (4), p.1-11
• Main Authors: McNamara, Bernard J, Jackiewicz, Jason, McKeever, Jean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; B stars; BINARY STARS; CLASSIFICATION; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; Constants; DIAGRAMS; ENERGY SPECTRA; OSCILLATIONS; Power spectra; ROTATION; Stars; VISIBLE RADIATION; WHITE DWARF STARS
• ISSN: 0004-6256; 1538-3881; 1538-3881
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/143/4/101

The light curves of 252 B-star candidates in the Kepler database are analyzed in a similar fashion to that done by Balona et al. to further characterize B-star variability, increase the sample of variable B stars for future study, and to identify stars whose power spectra include particularly interesting features such as frequency groupings. Stars are classified as either constant light emitters, beta Cep stars, slowly pulsating B stars (SPBs), hybrid pulsators, binaries or stars whose light curves are dominated by rotation (Bin/Rot), hot subdwarfs, or white dwarfs. One-hundred stars in our sample were found to be either light constants or to be variable at a level of less than 0.02 mmag. We increase the number of candidate B-star variables found in the Kepler database by Balona et al. in the following fashion: beta Cep stars from 0 to 10, SPBs from eight to 54, hybrid pulsators from seven to 21, and Bin/Rot stars from 23 to 82. For comparison purposes, approximately 51 SPBs and six hybrids had been known prior to 2007. The number of beta Cep stars known prior to 2004 was 93. A secondary result of this study is the identification of an additional 11 pulsating white dwarf candidates, four of which possess frequency groupings.