Theoretical pulsation of metallic-line stars

Abstract

The linear-theory radial-pulsation stability of low-helium delta Scuti variable models (1.0--2.5 Msun) has been investigated to see if metallicism and pulsation can occur simultaneously. Metallicism, which occurs in slowly rotating stars after the gravitational settling of He and the loss of the He II convection zone and its deep mixing for Y< or approx. =0.1, can then be established rapidly compared with the evolution time scale. Pulsation can still occur with driving due to the residual helium and the enhanced hydrogen. With the reduced helium giving no connection zone, the pulsation instability strip, whose blue and edges are estimated in this paoer, is about half as wide as with a normal helium abundance. Zero helium in the surface driving regions, however, produces blue edges so red that probably no instability strip exists at all. The red edge, predicted theoretically on the basis of the importance of convection in the outer zone, agrees well with the observational one. Cool, low-helium and metallic-line stars are then predicted to pulsate in a 200--500 K wide strip that is widest between the main-sequence luminosity of 5 Lsun and 15 Lsun. This strip reasonably includes the observed pulsating delta Del and mild Am stars, butmore » there may be conflicts. Since blue edges for varying ionization-zone helium content occur across the entire instability strip, bluer first and higher overtone pulsations are also predicted everywhere from less than 7000 K to over 8000 K, the redder ones probably showing metallicism.« less