2011/11/16 by J. Nemravová, P. Harmanec, P. Koubský +6 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201117922
arxiv created 2011/11/16 · arxiv updated 2015/06/03
A detailed analysis of more than 800 electronic high-resolution spectra of gamma Cas, which were obtained during a time interval of over 6000 days (16.84 yrs) at several observatories, documents the smooth variations in the density and/or extend of its circumstellar envelope. We found a clear anticorrelation between the peak intensity and FWHM of the H alpha emission, which seems to agree with recent models of such emission lines. The main result of this study is a confirmation of the binary nature of the object, determination of a reliable linear ephemeris Tmin.RV = HJD (2452081.9±0.6) + (203.52±0.08)*E, and a rather definitive set of orbital elements. We clearly demonstrated that the orbit is circular within the limits of accuracy of our measurements and has a semi-amplitude of radial-velocity curve of 4.30±0.09 (km/s). No trace of the low-mass secondary was found. The time distribution of our spectra does not allow a reliable investigation of rapid spectral variations, which are undoubtedly present in the spectra. We postpone this investigation for a future study, based on series of dedicated whole-night spectral observations.