Are RRab stars fully radial?

Abstract

AbstractThanks to the space missions CoRoT and Kepler new oscillation frequencies have been discovered in the Fourier spectra of Blazhko RR Lyrae stars. The period doubling (PD) yields half-integer frequencies between the fundamental mode and its harmonics. In many cases the first and/or second radial overtone frequencies also appear temporally. Some stars show extra frequencies that were identified as potential non-radial modes. We show here that all these frequencies can be explained by pure radial pulsation as linear combinations of the frequencies of radial fundamental and overtone modes.