A Comprehensive Study of the Dust Declines in R Coronae Borealis Stars

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Crawford, Courtney L., Soon, Jamie, Clayton, Geoffrey C., Tisserand, Patrick, Bedding, Timothy R., Clark, Caleb J., Lee, Chung-Uk
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Crawford, Courtney L.
Soon, Jamie
Clayton, Geoffrey C.
Tisserand, Patrick
Bedding, Timothy R.
Clark, Caleb J.
Lee, Chung-Uk
author_facet Crawford, Courtney L.
Soon, Jamie
Clayton, Geoffrey C.
Tisserand, Patrick
Bedding, Timothy R.
Clark, Caleb J.
Lee, Chung-Uk
contents The R Coronae Borealis (RCB) variables are rare, hydrogen-deficient, carbon-rich supergiants known for large, erratic declines in brightness due to dust formation. Recently, the number of known RCB stars in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds has increased from $\sim$30 to 162. We use all-sky and targeted photometric surveys to create the longest possible light curves for all known RCB stars and systematically study their declines. Our study, the largest of its kind, includes measurements of decline activity levels, morphologies, and periodicities for nearly all RCB stars. We confirm previous predictions that cool RCB stars exhibit more declines than warm RCBs, supporting a relationship between dust formation and condensation temperatures. We also find evidence for two distinct dust production mechanisms. R CrB and SU Tau show decline onsets consistent with a Poisson process, suggesting their dust production is driven by stochastic processes, such as convection. In contrast, RY Sgr's declines correlate with its pulsation period, suggesting that its dust production is driven by pulsationally-induced shocks. Finally, we show that the dust properties of the related class of DY~Per variables differ from those of the RCB stars, suggesting differences in their evolutionary status.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_16393
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Comprehensive Study of the Dust Declines in R Coronae Borealis Stars
Crawford, Courtney L.
Soon, Jamie
Clayton, Geoffrey C.
Tisserand, Patrick
Bedding, Timothy R.
Clark, Caleb J.
Lee, Chung-Uk
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The R Coronae Borealis (RCB) variables are rare, hydrogen-deficient, carbon-rich supergiants known for large, erratic declines in brightness due to dust formation. Recently, the number of known RCB stars in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds has increased from $\sim$30 to 162. We use all-sky and targeted photometric surveys to create the longest possible light curves for all known RCB stars and systematically study their declines. Our study, the largest of its kind, includes measurements of decline activity levels, morphologies, and periodicities for nearly all RCB stars. We confirm previous predictions that cool RCB stars exhibit more declines than warm RCBs, supporting a relationship between dust formation and condensation temperatures. We also find evidence for two distinct dust production mechanisms. R CrB and SU Tau show decline onsets consistent with a Poisson process, suggesting their dust production is driven by stochastic processes, such as convection. In contrast, RY Sgr's declines correlate with its pulsation period, suggesting that its dust production is driven by pulsationally-induced shocks. Finally, we show that the dust properties of the related class of DY~Per variables differ from those of the RCB stars, suggesting differences in their evolutionary status.
title A Comprehensive Study of the Dust Declines in R Coronae Borealis Stars
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.16393