Variable Stars in the 50BiN Open Cluster Survey.Ⅲ.NGC 884

Open clusters are the basic building blocks that serve as a laboratory for the study of young stellar populations in the Milky Way.Variable stars in open clusters provide a unique way to accurately probe the internal structure,temporal and dynamical evolutionary stages of individual stars and the host cluster.The most powerful tool for such studies is time-domain photometric observations.This paper follows the route of our previous work,concentrating on a photometric search for variable stars in NGC 884.The target cluster is the companion of NGC869,forming the well-known double cluster system that is gravitationally bound.From the observation run in 2016 November,a total of 9247 B-band CCD images and 8218Ⅴ-band CCD images were obtained.We detected a total of 15 stars with variability in visual brightness,including five Be stars,three eclipsing binaries,and seven of unknown types.Two new variable stars were discovered in this work.We also compared the variable star content of NGC 884 with its companion NGC 869.

Revise Thermal Winds of Remnant Neutron Stars in Gamma-Ray Bursts

It seems that the wealth of information revealed by the multi-messenger observations of the binary neutron star(NS)merger event,GW170817/GRB 170817A/kilonova AT2017gfo,places irreconcilable constraints to models of the prompt emission of this gamma-ray burst(GRB).The observed time delay between the merger of the two NSs and the trigger of the GRB and the thermal tail of the prompt emission can hardly be reproduced by these models simultaneously.We argue that the merger remnant should be an NS(last for,at least,a large fraction of 1 s),and that the difficulty can be alleviated by the delayed formation of the accretion disk due to the absorption of high-energy neutrinos emitted by the NS and the delayed emergence of effective viscosity in the disk.Further,we extend the consideration of the effect of the energy deposition of neutrinos emitted from the NS.If the NS is the central object of a GRB with a distance and duration similar to that of GRB 170817A,thermal emission of the thermal bubble inflated by the NS after the termination of accretion may be detectable.If our scenario is verified,it would be of interest to investigate the cooling of nascent NSs.

X-Ray Properties of PSR J1811-1925 by Nu STAR

We analyzed the spectral properties and pulse profile of PSR J1811-1925,a pulsar located in the center of composite supernova remnant(SNR)G11.2-0.3,by using high timing resolution archival data from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array Mission(NuSTAR).Analysis of archival Chandra data over different regions rules out the SNR shell as the site of the hard X-ray emission while spectral analysis indicates that the NuSTAR photons originate in the pulsar and its nebula.The pulse profile exhibits a broad single peak up to 35 keV.The jointed spectrum by combining NuSTAR and Chandra can be well fitted by a power-law model with a photon index ofΓ=1.58±0.04.The integrated flux of jointed spectrum over 1-10 keV is 3.36×10^(-12)erg cm^(-2)s^(-1).The spectrum of pulsar having photon indexΓ=1.33±0.06 and a 1-10 keV flux of 0.91×10^(-12)erg cm^(-2)s^(-1).We also performed the phase-resolved spectral analysis by splitting the whole pulse-on phase into five phase bins.The photon indices of the bins are all around 1.4,indicating that the photon index does not evolve with the phase.

A Study of Elemental Abundance Pattern of the r-II Star HD 222925

HD 222925 is a rare r-process enhanced star in the Milky Way because of its metal abundance([Fe/H]=-1.46±0.10)and Eu abundance([Eu/Fe]=1.32±0.08).Based on the very complete set of elemental abundances of HD 222925,we use the abundance decomposition method to fit the observed abundances of 58elements in the sample star,which is also the largest number of elemental abundances fitted at the same time for a fixed star.We analyze the astrophysical origins of elements in HD 222925 by its abundance ratios and component ratios.It is found that the light elements and the iron group elements in HD 222925 mainly originate from the primary process of the TypeⅡsupernovae(SNeⅡ)with the progenitor mass M>10 M_(⊙)and have no contribution from SNe Ia and the first generation of very massive stars.The contribution of the weak r-process to Ga,Ge,and As is superior to that of the other processes,and its contribution decreases linearly with increasing atomic number.The main r-process that is likely derived from a neutron star merger plays a key role in the formation of neutroncapture elements(Z≥38)in HD 222925.

GRB 200612A:An Ultralong Gamma-Ray Burst Powered by Magnetar Spinning Down

GRB 200612A could be classified as an ultralong gamma-ray burst due to its prompt emission lasting up to~1020 s and the true timescale of the central engine activity t_(burst)≥4×10^(4) s.The late X-ray light curve with a decay index ofα=7.53 is steeper than the steepest possible decay from an external shock model.We propose that this X-ray afterglow can be driven by dipolar radiation from the magnetar spindown during its early stage,while the magnetar collapsed into the black hole before its spindown,resulting in a very steep decay of the late X-ray light curve.The optical data show that the light curve is still rising after 1.1 ks,suggesting a late onset.We show that GRB 200612A’s optical afterglow light curve is fitted with the forward shock model by Gaussian structured off-axis jet.This is a special case among GRBs,as it may be an ultralong gamma-ray burst powered by a magnetar in an off-axis observation scenario.

A Possible γ-Ray Pulsation from PSR J1740-5340B in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397

Recently, a new radio millisecond pulsar(MSP) J1740-5340B, hosted in the globular cluster(GC) NGC 6397,was reported with a 5.78 ms spin period in an eclipsing binary system with a 1.97 days orbital period. Based on a modified radio ephemeris updated by tool tempo2, we analyze the ~15 yr γ-ray data obtained from the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and detect PSR J1740-5340B's γ-ray pulsation at a confidence level of ~4σ with a weighted H-test value of ~26. By performing a phase-resolved analysis, the γ-ray luminosity in on-pulse interval of PSR J1740-5340B is L_(γ)~ 3.8 × 10^(33) erg s^(-1) using NGC 6397's distance of 2.48 kpc. And γ-rays from the on-pulse part of PSR J1740-5340B contribute ~90% of the total observed γ-ray emissions from NGC 6397. No significant γ-ray pulsation of another MSP J1740-5340A in the GC is detected.Considering that the previous four cases of MSPs in GCs, more data in γ-ray, X-ray, and radio are encouraged to finally confirm the γ-ray emissions from MSP J1740-5340B, especially starving for a precise ephemeris.

Constraints on individual supermassive binary black holes using observations of PSR J1909-3744

We perform a search for gravitational waves(GWs) from several supermassive binary black hole(SMBBH) candidates(NGC 5548, Mrk 231, OJ 287, PG 1302–102, NGC 4151, Ark 120 and 3C 66B) in long-term timing observations of the pulsar PSR J1909-3744 obtained using the Parkes radio telescope.No statistically significant signals were found. We constrain the chirp masses of those SMBBH candidates and find the chirp mass of NGC 5548 and 3C 66B to be less than 2.4 × 10^9 M⊙ and 2.5 × 10^9 M⊙(with 95% confidence), respectively. Our upper limits remain a factor of 3 to 370 above the likely chirp masses for these candidates as estimated from other approaches. The observations processed here provide upper limits on the GW strain amplitude that improve upon the results from the first Parkes Pulsar Timing Array data release by a factor of 2 to 7. We investigate how information about the orbital parameters can help to improve the search sensitivity for individual SMBBH systems. Finally, we show that these limits are insensitive to uncertainties in the Solar System ephemeris model.

p-capture reaction cycles in rotating massive stars and their impact on elemental abundances in globular cluster stars: A case study of O, Na and Al

Elemental abundance patterns of globular cluster stars can provide important clues for understanding cluster formation and early chemical evolution.The origin of the abundance patterns,however,still remains poorly understood.We have studied the impact of p-capture reaction cycles on the abundances of oxygen,sodium and aluminium considering nuclear reaction cycles of carbon-nitrogenoxygen-fluorine,neon-sodium and magnesium-aluminium in massive stars in stellar conditions of temperature range 2×10~7 to 10×10~7K and typical density of 10~2gm cc^(-1).We have estimated abundances of oxygen,sodium and aluminium with respect to Fe,which are then assumed to be ejected from those stars because of rotation reaching a critical limit.These ejected abundances of elements are then compared with their counterparts that have been observed in some metal-poor evolved stars,mainly giants and red giants,of globular clusters M3,M4,M13 and NGC 6752.We observe an excellent agreement with[O/Fe]between the estimated and observed abundance values for globular clusters M3 and M4 with a correlation coefficient above 0.9 and a strong linear correlation for the remaining two clusters with a correlation coefficient above 0.7.The estimated[Na/Fe]is found to have a correlation coefficient above 0.7,thus implying a strong correlation for all four globular clusters.As far as[Al/Fe]is concerned,it also shows a strong correlation between the estimated abundance and the observed abundance for globular clusters M13 and NGC 6752,since here also the correlation coefficient is above 0.7 whereas for globular cluster M4 there is a moderate correlation found with a correlation coefficient above 0.6.Possible sources of these discrepancies are discussed.

Study of Type-B QPOs Observed in Black Hole X-Ray Binary Swift J1728.9-3613

We report the detection of type-B quasi-periodic oscillation(QPO)of the black hole X-ray binary Swift J1728.9-3613 observed by NICER during the 2019 outburst.A type-B QPO was observed for the first two days and it disappeared as flux increased,but again appeared at∼7.70 Hz when flux was dramatically decreased.The source was found in the soft intermediate state during these observations.We further studied the energy dependence of the QPO.We found that QPO was observed only for a higher energy range implying that the origin of QPO is possibly due to the corona emitting higher energy photons by the inverse Compton process.The variation of spectral parameters can be explained with the disk truncation model.The fractional rms was found to be monotonically increased with energy.The phase lag spectrum followed the“U-shaped”curve.The rms and phase lag spectrum are modeled and explained with the single-component Comptonization model vkompthdk.

Long-term BV RI photometric light curves of 15 PMS stars in the star-forming region IC 5070

This paper reports results from the multicolor photometric observations of 15 pre-main sequence stars collected in the period September 2010-October 2017. The stars from our study are located in the star-forming HII region IC 5070. These objects were previously detected as either emission line stars, flare stars, T Tauri variables or Herbig Ae/Be stars. Photometric observations, especially concerning the long-term behavior of the objects, are missing in the literature. We present the first photometric monitoring for all stars from our study. The analysis of the obtained BV RI photometric data allows us to draw the conclusion that all investigated objects are variable stars. In the case of LkHα 146,we identified previously unknown periodicity in its photometric variability.

Long-term photometric behavior of the PMS stars V977 Cep and V982 Cep in the vicinity of NGC 7129

Long-term BV RI photometric light curves of the pre-main sequence stars V977 Cep and V982 Cep during the period from 2000 October to 2016 August are presented. The stars are located in the vicinity of the reflection nebula NGC 7129. Our photometric data show that both stars exhibit strong photometric variability in all optical passbands, which is typical for Classical T Tauri stars. Using our observational data we analyze the reasons for the observed brightness variations. In the case of V977 Cep we identify previously unknown periodicity in its light curve.

Absolute parameters of the three totally-eclipsing W UMa stars NSVS 2443858,NSVS 780649 and V1098 Her

We present the first photometric analysis of three totally-eclipsing W UMa binaries,NS VS2443858,NSVS 780649 and V1098 Her.The absolute astrophysical parameters of the stellar components were determined by means of Gaia distances and light curve solutions.The results show that:(ⅰ)Two of the systems,NSVS 2443858 and V1098 Her,are of A subtype while the obtained temperature of the secondary component of NSVS 780649 indicates that it is a W-subtype system;(ⅱ)The estimated mass ratios approach the lower limit of the mass ratio assumed by researchers in recent years so our targets could be classified as extreme mass ratio binary(EMRB)systems;(ⅲ)All the systems have deep contact configurations,so they also are deep low mass ratio(DLMR)systems;(ⅳ)The components of our systems are stars of F and G spectral type and undergo total eclipses;(ⅴ)The sum 0.871 M⊙of the component masses of NSVS 780649 is below the mass limit of 1.0-1.2 M⊙assumed for the known contact binary stars.

Long-term V(RI) CCD photometry of pre-main-sequence stars in the association Cepheus OB3

Results from optical CCD photometric observations of 13 pre-main-sequence stars collected during the period from February 2007 to November 2020 are presented.These stars are located in the association Cepheus OB3,in the field of the young star V733 Cephei.Photometric observations,especially concerning the long-term variability of the stars,are missing in the literature.We present the first longterm V(RI)c monitoring for them,that cover 13 years.Results from our study indicate that all of the investigated stars manifest strong photometric variability.The presented paper is a part of our program for the photometric study of pre-main-sequence stars located in active star-forming regions.

Analysis of a selected sample of RR Lyrae stars in the LMC from OGLE-Ⅲ

A systematic study of RR Lyrae stars is performed using a selected sample of 655 objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with long-term observations and numerous measurements from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment Ⅲ project. The phase dispersion method and linear superposition of the harmonic oscil-Ⅲ lations are used to derive the pulsation frequency and properties of light variation. It is found that a dichotomy exists in Oosterhoff Type Ⅰ and Oosterhoff Type Ⅱ for RR Lyrae stars in the LMC. Due to our strict criteria for identifying a frequency, a lower limit for the incidence rate of Blazhko modulation in the LMC is estimated in various subclasses of RR Lyrae stars. For fundamental-mode RR Lyrae stars, the rate of 7.5% is smaller than the previous result. In the case of the first-overtone RR Lyrae variables, the rate of 9.1% is relatively high. In addition to the Blazhko variables, 15 objects are identified to pulsate in the fundamental/first-overtone double mode. Furthermore, four objects show a period ratio around 0.6, which makes them very likely to be rare pulsators in the fundamental/second-overtone double mode.

Spectroscopic study of Be-shell stars:4 Her and 88 Her

We present an optical spectroscopic study based on 41 spectra of 4 Her and 32 spectra of 88 Her,obtained over a period of 6 months.We estimate the rotational velocity of these stars from Hel lines in the blue spectral region(4000-4500 ?).We find that these stars are likely to be rotating at a fractional critical rotation of^0.80.We measure the average I_p/I_c ratio to quantify the strength of the Hα line and obtain1.63 for 4 Her and 2.06 for 88 Her.The radius of the Ha emission region is estimated to be R_d/R_*~5.0,assuming a Keplerian disk.These stars are thus found to be fast rotators with a relatively small Ha emission region.We detect V/R variation of the Ha spectral line during the observed period.We re-estimate the periods for both stars and obtain a period of ~46 d and its harmonic of 23.095 d for 4 Her,and a period of^86 d for 88 Her.As these two cases are shell stars with binaries and have low Ha EW with the emission region closer to the central star,the V/R variation and a change in period may be an effect of the binary on the circumstellar disk.

Variable Star Status of Two Stars:V204 and I-I-39 in M3

The star I-I-42 (=vZ1390),a cluster member in M3,located near the red edge of the instability strip of the horizontal branch,was discovered by Roberts and Sandage as a low amplitude variable,it was designated as V204 in the "second catalogue of variable stars in globular clusters",but its coordinates given in all versions of this catalogue are wrong since 1955. We argue that V204 is indeed a low amplitude HB variable star,located near to the red edge of the instability strip,with a period of 0.74785d and an amplitude of about 0.04mag in V . We also find that the red cluster member star I-I-39 is a low amplitude variable with a period of 1.16d and amplitude of about 0.03mag in V which might be pulsating at the second overtone.

Discovery of high-velocity EHB stars in the globular cluster ωCentauri(NGC 5139)

We report the discovery of 45 high-velocity extreme horizontal branch(EHB) stars in the globular cluster Omega Centauri(NGC 5139).The tangential velocities of these EHB stars are determined to be in the range 93~313 km s^(-1),with an average uncertainty of ~27 km s^(-1).The central escape velocity of the cluster is determined to be in the range 60~105 km s^(-1).These EHB stars are significantly more concentrated toward the cluster core compared with other cluster members.The formation mechanisms of these EHB stars are discussed.Our conclusions can be summarized as follows:(1) A comparison of the tangential velocities of these EHB stars to the centra]escape velocity of the cluster shows that most if not all of these EHB stars are unbound to the cluster;(2) These EHB stars obtained high velocities in the central cluster region no longer than ~1 Myr ago and may be subsequently ejected from the cluster in the next ~1 Myr;(3) If the progenitors of these EHB stars were single stars,then they may have experienced a fast mass-loss process.If the progenitors were in close binaries,then they may have formed through disruptions by the intermediate-mass black hole in the cluster center.

Variable stars in the 50BiN open cluster survey.Ⅱ.NGC 869

This work presents a time-series photometric variability survey of the young open cluster NGC 869.More than 13000 CCD frames in the BV filters were collected on 19 nights between 2014 November 6 and 2014 December 24.In a 20’×20’field centered on the cluster,we detected a total of 28 stars showing photometric variability,12 of which are new discoveries.The classifications and memberships of the variable stars are discussed according to the behaviors and periods of the light curves as well as their positions on the H-R diagram.These results conclude that 22 variable stars are probable members of the cluster while six other stars belong to the field star population.They are categorized as 18 pulsating variable stars(fourβCep,seven SPB,oneβCep/SPB,four Be stars,and twoδSct/γDor candidates),seven eclipsing binaries(five EA and two EB)and three unknown type stars.

Time-resolved CCD photometry and time-series analysis of the RR Lyrae type star RR Gem

We present the results of a time-resolved photometric and time-series analysis of an RR Lyrae type star RR Gem. The main results are as follows: we found RR Gem’s pulsation period, 0.39689 d, and its V and I mean magnitudes, 11.277(V) and 11.063(I) mag respectively. We confirm its variability type as RRab/BL because it manifests the Blazhko effect, and it also exhibits asymmetric light curves(steep ascending branches), periods from 0.3 to 1.0 d and amplitudes from 0.3 to 2 mag in V. They are fundamental mode pulsators.

Study of the puzzling abundance pattern of the neutron-capture elements in LMC star J053253.51–695915.1

Object J053253.51–695915.1(J053253)in the Large Magellanic Cloud(LMC)is reported as a young stellar object(YSO).Its chemical abundances reflect the initial composition of the gas cloud in which the star formed.However,the discovery that this star shows the enhancement of the neutron(n)-capture elements and the higher ratio of the heavier n-capture elements relative to the lighter n-capture elements is puzzling.Using an abundance decomposed method,we explore the astrophysical origins of the n-capture elements in this star.We find that the abundance characteristic of the higher ratio of the heavier n-capture elements to the lighter n-capture elements can be explained by the pollution of the r-process event and the contamination of the s-process material.