On the relationship between the δ Scuti and γ Doradus pulsators

Abstract

We searched for δ Scuti-type pulsations amongst known and candidate γ Doradus stars. The motivations for such a project come from the need to understand the relationship of these two classes of pulsator better, from the present poor knowledge of the hot border of the γ Doradus phenomenon, and from the exciting prospects for asteroseismology should stars be found which have both types of pulsation excited. We acquired 270 h of observations and monitored a total of 26 stars. One target, HD 209295, turned out to be a member of both classes of pulsating star, but this object is peculiar in the sense that it is a close binary. We classify six of our targets as new bona fide γ Doradus stars, whereas nine more are good γ Doradus candidates, and three turned out to be ellipsoidal variables. One of our programme stars was found to be a δ Scuti star, with no additional γ Doradus variations. Furthermore, one star was already known to be a bona fide γ Doradus star, and we could not find an unambiguous explanation for the variability of five more stars. The analysis of our data together with improved knowledge of stars from the literature enabled us to revise the blue border of the γ Doradus phenomenon towards cooler temperatures. This new blue edge is much better defined than the previous one and extends from a temperature of about 7550 K on the ZAMS to 7400 K one magnitude above it. Five bona fide γ Doradus stars we observed are located inside the δ Scuti instability strip, but none of them exhibited observable δ Scuti pulsations. We therefore suggest that γ Doradus stars are less likely to be δ Scuti pulsators compared with other normal stars in the same region of the lower instability strip. In addition, we show that there is a clear separation between the pulsation constants Q of δ Scuti and γ Doradus stars. The γ Doradus stars known to date all have Q>0.23 d.