Rotational Splitting and Asteroseismic Modeling of the δ Scuti Star EE Camelopardalis

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Published 2017 March 21 © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
, , Citation Xinghao Chen and Yan Li 2017 ApJ 838 31 DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/aa6339

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0004-637X/838/1/31

Abstract

According to the rotational splitting law of g modes, the frequency spectra of EE Cam can be disentangled only with oscillation modes of  = 0, 1, and 2. Fifteen sets of rotational splits were found, and they contain five sets of  = 1 multiplets and 10 sets of  = 2 multiplets. The rotational period of EE Cam is deduced to be ${P}_{\mathrm{rot}}={1.84}_{-0.05}^{+0.07}$ days. When we do model fittings, we use two nonradial oscillation modes (f11 and f32), and the fundamental radial mode f1. The fitting results show that ${\chi }^{2}$ of the best-fitting model is much smaller than those of other theoretical models. The physical parameters of the best-fitting model are M = 2.04 M, Z = 0.028, Teff = 6433 K, $\mathrm{log}L/{L}_{\odot }=1.416$, R = 4.12 R, $\mathrm{log}g=3.518$, and ${\chi }^{2}=0.00035$. Furthermore, we find that f11 and f32 are mixed modes, which mainly characterize the features of the helium core. The fundamental radial mode f1 mainly restricts the features of the stellar envelope. Finally, the acoustic radius ${\tau }_{0}$ and the period separation Π0 are determined to be 5.80 hr and 463.7 s, respectively, and the size of the helium core of EE Cam is estimated to be MHe = 0.181 M and RHe = 0.0796 R.

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1. Introduction

The δ Scuti pulsator EE Cam is classified as an F3 star based on the Strömgren indices (Olsen 1980). The star was first discovered to be a variable star during the Hipparcos mission (Perryman et al. 1997). Koen (2001) reanalyzed the Hipparcos epoch photometric data and obtained two frequencies of 4.93 and 5.21 cd−1. The first comprehensive frequency analysis of the photometric data for EE Cam was published by Breger et al. (2007). EE Cam was observed photometrically for 87 nights from 2006 to 2007 using the Vienna University Automatic Photoelectric Telescope (Strassmeier et al. 1997; Breger & Hiesberger 1999; Granzer et al. 2001), which is situated in Washington Camp, Arizona, USA. Fifteen oscillation frequencies were detected (Breger et al. 2007). With 213+ nights of additional photometric data, the number of detected frequencies was increased to 40, of which 37 were independent (Breger et al. 2015). These oscillation frequencies are shown in Table 1 of Breger et al. (2015).

In addition, Breger et al. (2015) compared the observed phase shifts and amplitude ratios with those derived from theoretical models. They identified the dominant mode f1 = 57.101 μHz as a radial mode and the second dominant mode f2 = 60.345 μHz as a nonradial mode with  = 1. Moreover, Breger et al. (2015) performed a detailed analysis of pulsation instability and suggested the radial mode f1 as the fundamental radial mode. Both the radial mode and nonradial oscillation modes are detected. Different oscillation modes show different propagation behaviors in the star, thus EE Cam is an ideal subject for asteroseismology.

Our work extends the work of Breger et al. (2015) and presents a comprehensive asteroseismic analysis for EE Cam. The present paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we propose our mode identification on basis of rotational splitting. In Section 3, we describe the details of stellar models. Fundamental parameters of EE Cam are introduced in Section 3.1, input physics are elaborated in Section 3.2, and model grids are presented in Section 3.3. We analyze our asteroseimic results in Section 4. The best-fitting model are elaborated in Section 4.1 and the fitting result is discussed in Section 4.2. Finally, we conclude the results of our work in Section 5.

2. Mode Identifications Based on the Rotational Splitting

According to the theory of stellar oscillations, each oscillation mode can be characterized by three spherical harmonic numbers: (i) the radial orders n, (ii) the spherical harmonic degree , and (iii) the azimuthal order m. If a star is rotating, departures from spherical symmetry caused by stellar rotation will result in the nonradial oscillation mode splitting into 2 + 1 different frequencies. For high-order g modes, the approximate formula of the rotational splitting $\delta {\nu }_{{\ell },n}$ and the rotational period Prot can be described as

Equation (1)

(Brickhill 1975). In Equation (1), m varies from − to and has a total of 2 + 1 different values. The value of $\upsilon \sin i$ of EE Cam is measured to be 40 ± 3 km s−1 by Breger et al. (2007) and to be 51 ± 8 km s−1 by Bush & Hintz (2008). The two results of $\upsilon \sin i$ are consistent within 1σ error. Breger et al. (2015) showed the inclination angle i as being 34 ± 4 deg. Then, the equatorial rotation velocity is estimated to be 72 ± 10 km s−1 from $\upsilon \sin i$ of Breger et al. (2007) and is found to be 91 ± 25 km s−1 from the result of Bush & Hintz (2008). According to the analyses of Chen et al. (2017), the second-order effect of rotation is much smaller than that of the first-order. Thus, the second-order effect of rotation is neglected in our work.

According to Equation (1), splitting frequencies with  = 1 forms a triplet and splitting frequencies with  = 2 forms a quintuplet. Moreover, the rotational splitting of  = 1 modes and that of  = 2 modes meet the proportional relation

Equation (2)

(Winget et al. 1991). Based on the above analyses, we search for potentially rotational splits in the frequency spectra of EE Cam and list them in Table 1. The frequency IDs in Table 1 follow the serial numbers of Breger et al. (2015).

Table 1.  Possible Rotational Splits Found in Observed Frequencies

Multiplet ID Freq. $\delta \nu $ l m Multiplet ID Freq. $\delta \nu $ l m
    (μHz) (μHz)         (μHz) (μHz)    
  f25 110.510   1 −1   f36 127.547   2 (−2, −1, 0, +1)
      3.376     8     5.257    
1 f11 113.886   1 0   f38 132.804   2 (−1, 0, +1, +2)
      3.177        
  f28 117.063   1 +1    
              f30 119.420   2 (−2, −1, 0, +1)
            9     5.242
  f6 57.147   1 (−1, 0)   f33 124.662   2 (−1, 0, +1, +2)
2     3.198        
  f2 60.345   1 (0, +1)    
              f27 115.266   2 (−2, −1,0)
            10     10.600    
  f20 85.341   1 (−1,0)   f35 125.866   2 (0, +1, +2)
3     3.378        
  f21 88.719   1 (0, +1)    
              f18 79.056   2 (−2, −1)
            11     16.608    
  f22 93.218   1 (−1, 0)   f8 95.664   2 ( + 1, +2)
4     3.227        
  f3 96.445   1 (0, +1)    
              f19 81.195   2 (−2, −1)
            12     16.674    
  f5 55.144   1 −1   f9 97.869   2 ( + 1, +2)
5     6.438        
  f15 61.582   1 +1    
              f16 69.725   2 −2
            13     21.775    
  f10 109.677   2 −2   f7 91.500   2 +2
      10.677        
6 f32 120.354   2 0    
      10.677       f24 98.519   2 −2
  f37 131.031   2 +2 14     21.188  
              f31 119.707   2 +2
               
  f4 50.001   2 −2    
      5.309       f34 125.531   2 −2
7 f14 55.310   2 −1 15     21.591
      16.493       f39 147.122   2 +2
  f17 71.803   2 +2    

Note. The serial numbers of the observed frequencies in Breger et al. (2015) are adopted. Freq. is the observed frequencies in units of μHz, and $\delta \nu $ is the frequency difference in units of μHz.

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A total of 15 sets of possible multiplets are found. The averaged value of the frequency splitting $\delta {\nu }_{1}$ in Multiplets 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is 3.256 μHz. The averaged value of the frequency splitting $\delta {\nu }_{2}$ in Multiplets 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 is 5.403 μHz. The ratio of $\delta {\nu }_{1}$ and $\delta {\nu }_{2}$ is 0.603, which agrees well with Equation (2). We therefore identify the spherical harmonic degree of frequencies in Multiplets 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 as  = 1, and the spherical harmonic degree of frequencies in Multiplets 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 as  = 2. Furthermore, it can be seen in Table 1 that the identifications of the azimuthal order m of oscillation frequencies are unique in Multiplets 1, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, and 15. However, the identifications of the azimuthal order m of oscillation frequencies in other multiplets allow of more possibilities (e.g., two possibilities in Multiplets 2, 3, 4, 11, and 12, three possibilities in Multiplet 10, and four possibilities in Multiplets 8 and 9). The photometric mode identifications of Breger et al. (2015) show that f2 is a mode with  = 1 and f3 is a mode with  = 1 or  = 2. Moreover, Breger et al. (2015) suggest that f3 is a dipole mode because of the line-profile variations. Our mode identifications are in good agreement with those of Breger et al. (2015).

Finally, three oscillation frequencies do not show frequency splitting: f12, f13, and f23. We notice that f12 and f28 have a frequency difference of about 10.644 μHz and about twice of $\delta {\nu }_{2}$. However, f28, f25, and f11 have been identified as one complete triplet. The frequency difference between f28 and f11 is in good agreement with the value between f25 and f11. The frequency difference between f23 and f25 is about 16.191 μHz and about three times of δν2. The case of f23 is similar to that of f12. The mode identification of f15 allows of two possibilities (i.e., as a mode with  = 1 or as a mode with  = 2). Frequencies f5 and f15 have a difference of about 6.438 μHz and about twice of δν1. Thus, the spherical harmonic degree of f5 and f15 can be identified as  = 1, and their azimuthal order m can be uniquely identified as m = (−1, +1). This case is listed in Table 1. In addition, f13 and f15 have a frequency difference of 21.689 μHz and about four times of δν2. In this case, the spherical harmonic degree of f13 and f15 are identified as  = 2, and their azimuthal order m are uniquely identified as m = (−2, +2).

Based on the regularities of rotational splitting, five sets of multiplets with  = 1 and ten sets of multiplets with  = 2 are identified. Due to departures from the asymptotic formula, frequency differences in these multiplets may deviate slightly from the averaged values of rotational splitting. Furthermore, as seen in Table 1, only two components are detected in Multiplets 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. Other physical factors like the phenomenon of avoided crossings (Aizenman et al. 1977) and the large separation caused by the isolated modes (Lignières et al. 2006; García Hernández et al. 2013) are also possible.

Based on above analyses, the frequency spectra of EE Cam can be disentangled only with oscillation modes of  = 0, 1, and 2. Oscillation modes with  = 3 are not considered in this work. This situation is very different from those of HD 50844 (Chen et al. 2016) and CoRoT 102749568 (Chen et al. 2017). According to the theory of stellar oscillations, the spherical harmonic degree is the number of nodal lines by which the stellar surface is divided to oscillate in the opposite phase. The stellar surface will be divided into more zones for higher value of the spherical harmonic degree . Due to the effect of geometrical cancellation, the detections of oscillation frequencies with a higher degree need much higher precision observations. The oscillation frequencies of HD 50844 (Poretti et al. 2009; Balona 2014) and CoRoT 102749568 (Paparó et al. 2013) are obtained from the CoRoT timeseries. However, the oscillation frequencies of EE Cam are extracted from the ground-based observations (Breger et al. 2015). Therefore, only oscillation modes with  = 0, 1, and 2 are considered in this work.

3. Stellar Models

3.1. Fundamental Parameters of EE Cam

The effective temperature Teff of EE Cam is ${T}_{\mathrm{eff}}={6469}_{-73}^{+65}$ K and the [Fe/H] abundance is $[\mathrm{Fe}/{\rm{H}}]={0.24}_{-0.13}^{+0.12}$ dex according to the catalog by Ammons et al. (2006). Based on the Hipparcos parallax 4.34 ± 0.63 mas of van Leeuwen (2007), Breger et al. (2015) estimated the luminosity of EE Cam to be $\mathrm{log}L/{L}_{\odot }={1.53}_{-0.12}^{+0.14}$. The catalog of Nordström et al. (2004) shows values of Teff and [Fe/H] being 6530 K and 0.06 respectively. In our work, we adopt a higher uncertainty of 200 K (e.g., Breger et al. 2015) for the effective temperature Teff of Ammons et al. (2006). Meanwhile, we use a large range for the value of [Fe/H], which varys from 0 to 0.36 dex, to cover the results of Nordström et al. (2004) and Ammons et al. (2006).

3.2. Input Physics

We compute our theoretical models with the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA; Paxton et al. 2011, 2013). The submodule "pulse" of version 6596 is used to compute stellar evolutionary models and to compute their corresponding oscillation frequencies (Christensen-Dalsgaard 2008; Paxton et al. 2011, 2013). Our theoretical models are constructed on basis of the OPAL opacity table GS98 (Grevesse & Sauval 1998) series. The Eddington gray atmosphere Tτ relation in the atmosphere integration is used. The mixing-length theory of Böhm-Vitense (1958) is chosen to treat convection. Effects of element diffusion, convective overshooting, and rotation are not included in our calculations.

3.3. Model Grids

In our calculations, we fix the mixing-length parameter α to the solar value of 1.80 and set the initial helium fraction Y = 0.245 + 1.54Z (e.g., Dotter et al. 2008; Thompson et al. 2014), as a function of the metallicity Z. The value of Z varies from 0.015 to 0.035 with a step of 0.001. The stellar mass M varies from 1.5 M to 2.5 M with a step of 0.01 M.

Figure 1 illustrates the evolutionary tracks of the theoretical models on the Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram. In this figure, the rectangle marks the 1σ error box of the effective temperature Teff and the luminosity log $\mathrm{log}L/{L}_{\odot }$ (i.e., 6269 K < Teff < 6669 K and 1.41 < $\mathrm{log}L/{L}_{\odot }$ < 1.67). We calculate frequencies of oscillation modes with  = 0, 1, and 2 for every stellar model falling inside the error box and fit them to the observed frequencies according to

Equation (3)

In Equation (3), ${\nu }_{i}^{\mathrm{theo}}$ denotes the theoretical frequency, ${\nu }_{i}^{\mathrm{obs}}$ denotes the observed frequency, and k denotes the number of the observed frequencies.

Figure 1.

Figure 1. Evolutionary tracks. The rectangle marks the 1σ error box of the observed parameters, 1.41 < $\mathrm{log}L/{L}_{\odot }$ < 1.67 and 6269 K < Teff < 6669 K.

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4. Asteroseismic Analysis

4.1. The Best-fitting Model for EE Cam

In Section 2, we identify the observed frequencies based on the regularities of rotational splitting. In particular for the oscillation frequencies (f25, f11, f28) in Multiplet 1 and (f10, f32, f37) in Multiplet 6, mode identifications are unique and their m = 0 components are detected. When we do model fittings, we only use the two central components, f11, and f32, as well as the the fundamental radial mode f1. Breger et al. (2015) identified f1 as a radial mode based on the analyses of theoretical phase differences and amplitude ratios, and then suggested f1 as the fundamental radial mode based on a detailed analysis of pulsation instability. We use the identification of f1 as the fundamental radial mode in our calculations.

In Figure 2, we illustrate the changes of $1/{\chi }^{2}$ as a function of the effective temperature Teff for grid models. Each curve in Figure 2 corresponds to one evolutionary track in Figure 1. It can be clearly seen that $1/{\chi }^{2}$ of the theoretical model with Z = 0.028 and M = 2.04 M is much larger than those of other theoretical models. We therefore choose the model with the minimum value of ${\chi }^{2}=0.00035$ as the best-fitting model, and mark it with a filled circle in Figure 2. The fundamental parameters of the best-fitting model are M = 2.04 M, Z = 0.028, Teff = 6433 K, $\mathrm{log}L/{L}_{\odot }=1.416$, R = 4.120 R, and log g = 3.518.

Figure 2.

Figure 2. Plot of $1/{\chi }^{2}$ against the effective temperature Teff of all grid models falling in the error box. The filled circle marks the best-fitting model.

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Theoretical oscillation frequencies deduced from the best-fitting model are listed in Table 2, in which np is the number of radial nodes in propagation cavity of p modes, and ng is the number of radial nodes in propagation cavity of g modes. The parameter β,n measures the size of rotational splitting. Its general expression for a uniformly rotating star is described by Christensen-Dalsgaard (2003) as

Equation (4)

where ${L}^{2}={\ell }({\ell }+1)$, ρ is the local density, and where ξr and ξh are the radial displacement and the horizontal displacement, respectively. For high-order g modes, ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ can be simplified into $1-\tfrac{1}{{\ell }({\ell }+1)}$, which is in accordance with the term in Equation (1). In Figure 3, we show the theoretical values of ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ for theoretical oscillation frequencies. As shown in the figure, most of the ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ are in accordance with the asymptotic value 0.5 for  = 1 modes and 0.833 for  = 2 modes. They show more pronounced g-mode characters in the star. Meanwhile, it can be found that ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ of several oscillation modes clearly deviate from the asymptotic value. They show more pronounced p-mode characters in the star.

Figure 3.

Figure 3. Plot of ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ against the theoretical frequency ν of the best-fitting model. The filled circles mark m = 0 modes of the multiplets in Table 3.

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Table 2.  Theoretical Frequencies Derived from the Best-fitting Model

${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}({\ell },{n}_{p},{n}_{g})$ ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ ${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}({\ell },{n}_{p},{n}_{g})$ ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ ${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}({\ell },{n}_{p},{n}_{g})$ ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ ${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}({\ell },{n}_{p},{n}_{g})$ ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$
(μHz)   (μHz)   (μHz)   (μHz)  
57.123(0, 0, 0) 62.767(1, 1, −47) 0.504 35.313(2, 0, −148) 0.834 58.223(2, 0, −88) 0.850
74.986(0, 1, 0) 64.110(1, 1, −46) 0.502 35.553(2, 0, −147) 0.834 58.806(2, 0, −87) 0.846
95.185(0, 2, 0) 65.526(1, 1, −45) 0.502 35.765(2, 0, −146) 0.835 59.437(2, 0, −86) 0.842
116.820(0, 3, 0) 67.006(1, 1, −44) 0.502 35.952(2, 0, −145) 0.835 60.104(2, 0, −85) 0.839
138.568(0, 4, 0) 68.537(1, 1, −43) 0.503 36.169(2, 0, −144) 0.834 60.795(2, 0, −84) 0.838
    70.094(1, 1, −42) 0.507 36.415(2, 0, −143) 0.834 61.505(2, 1, −84) 0.838
30.091(1, 0, −100) 0.500 71.639(1, 1, −41) 0.516 36.674(2, 0, −142) 0.834 62.228(2, 1, −83) 0.837
30.403(1, 0, −99) 0.500 73.156(1, 1, −40) 0.533 36.943(2, 0, −141) 0.833 62.957(2, 1, −82) 0.838
30.720(1, 0, −98) 0.500 74.708(1, 1, −39) 0.552 37.219(2, 0, −140) 0.833 63.682(2, 1, −81) 0.838
31.041(1, 0, −97) 0.500 76.354(1, 1, −38) 0.579 37.499(2, 0, −139) 0.833 64.394(2, 1, −80) 0.837
31.368(1, 0, −96) 0.500 77.946(1, 1, −37) 0.641 37.783(2, 0, −138) 0.833 65.109(2, 1, −79) 0.836
31.700(1, 0, −95) 0.500 79.322(1, 2, −37) 0.612 38.069(2, 0, −137) 0.833 65.857(2, 1,−78) 0.834
32.034(1, 0, −94) 0.500 81.043(1, 2, −36) 0.528 38.358(2, 0, −136) 0.833 66.655(2, 1, −77) 0.834
32.363(1, 0, −93) 0.500 83.174(1, 2, −35) 0.508 38.646(2, 0, −135) 0.834 67.500(2, 1, −76) 0.833
32.685(1, 0, −92) 0.500 85.536(1, 2, −34) 0.504 38.928(2, 0, −134) 0.834 68.378(2, 1, −75) 0.833
33.014(1, 0, −91) 0.500 88.075(1, 2, −33) 0.503 39.190(2, 0, −133) 0.834 69.274(2, 1, −74) 0.833
33.362(1, 0, −90) 0.500 90.773(1, 2, −32) 0.506 39.436(2, 0, −132) 0.834 70.165(2, 1, −73) 0.834
33.727(1, 0, −89) 0.500 93.591(1, 2, −31) 0.516 39.699(2, 0, −131) 0.834 71.015(2, 1, −72) 0.836
34.107(1, 0, −88) 0.500 96.305(1, 2, −30) 0.601 39.989(2, 0, −130) 0.833 71.835(2, 1, −71) 0.839
34.499(1, 0, −87) 0.500 98.085(1, 2, −29) 0.750 40.299(2, 0, −129) 0.833 72.713(2, 1, −70) 0.839
34.902(1, 0, −86) 0.500 100.413(1, 3, −29) 0.569 40.621(2, 0, −128) 0.833 73.682(2, 1, −69) 0.839
35.315(1, 0, −85) 0.500 103.547(1, 3, −28) 0.527 40.953(2, 0, −127) 0.833 74.712(2, 1, −68) 0.839
35.738(1, 0, −84) 0.500 106.822(1, 3, −27) 0.520 41.293(2, 0, −126) 0.833 75.780(2, 1, −67) 0.839
36.171(1, 0, −83) 0.500 110.184(1, 3, −26) 0.519 41.639(2, 0, −125) 0.833 76.874(2, 1, −66) 0.841
36.611(1, 0, −82) 0.500 113.868(1, 3, −25) 0.523 41.989(2, 0, −124) 0.833 77.982(2, 1, −65) 0.843
37.058(1, 0, −81) 0.499 117.968(1, 3, −24) 0.553 42.338(2, 0, −123) 0.833 79.089(2, 1, −64) 0.847
37.507(1, 0, −80) 0.499 121.376(1, 3, −23) 0.804 42.684(2, 0, −122) 0.833 80.185(2, 1, −63) 0.849
37.958(1, 0, −79) 0.499 123.691(1, 4, −23) 0.596 43.021(2, 0, −121) 0.833 81.290(2, 1, −62) 0.848
38.409(1, 0, −78) 0.499 128.581(1, 4, −22) 0.511 43.343(2, 0, −120) 0.833 82.454(2, 2, −62) 0.844
38.870(1, 0, −77) 0.499 134.355(1, 4, −21) 0.508 43.649(2, 0, −119) 0.833 83.701(2, 2, −61) 0.840
39.353(1, 0, −76) 0.499 140.605(1, 4, −20) 0.554 43.974(2, 0, −118) 0.833 85.021(2, 2, −60) 0.838
39.864(1, 0, −75) 0.499 143.267(1, 4, −19) 0.921 44.337(2, 0, −117) 0.833 86.392(2, 2, −59) 0.837
40.400(1, 0, −74) 0.499 148.171(1, 5, −19) 0.515 44.726(2, 0, −116) 0.833 87.775(2, 2, −58) 0.837
40.958(1, 0, −73) 0.499 45.128(2, 0, −115) 0.833 89.082(2, 2, −57) 0.839
41.534(1, 0, −72) 0.499 30.084(2, 0, −174) 0.833 45.537(2, 0, −114) 0.833 90.280(2, 2, −56) 0.841
42.125(1, 0, −71) 0.499 30.264(2, 0, −173) 0.834 45.951(2, 0, −113) 0.833 91.607(2, 2, −55) 0.839
42.729(1, 0, −70) 0.499 30.438(2, 0, −172) 0.834 46.370(2, 0, −112) 0.833 93.140(2, 2, −54) 0.839
43.342(1, 0, −69) 0.499 30.570(2, 0,−171) 0.837 46.795(2, 0, −111) 0.833 94.796(2, 2, −53) 0.839
43.964(1, 0, −68) 0.499 30.693(2, 0, −170) 0.835 47.223(2, 0, −110) 0.833 96.521(2, 2, −52) 0.841
44.593(1, 0, −67) 0.499 30.870(2, 0, −169) 0.834 47.647(2, 0, −109) 0.832 98.262(2, 2, −51) 0.846
45.228(1, 0, −66) 0.499 31.062(2, 0, −168) 0.834 48.051(2, 0, −108) 0.831 99.951(2, 2, −50) 0.854
45.873(1, 0, −65) 0.499 31.257(2, 0, −167) 0.833 48.434(2, 0, −107) 0.830 101.599(2, 2, −49) 0.856
46.539(1, 0, −64) 0.499 31.452(2, 0, −166) 0.833 48.831(2, 0, −106) 0.831 103.365(2, 2, −48) 0.850
47.236(1, 0, −63) 0.499 31.651(2, 0, −165) 0.833 49.270(2, 0, −105) 0.832 105.315(2, 3, −48) 0.844
47.968(1, 0, −62) 0.499 31.855(2, 0, −164) 0.833 49.741(2, 0, −104) 0.832 107.396(2, 3, −47) 0.841
48.737(1, 0, −61) 0.500 32.065(2, 0, −163) 0.833 50.232(2, 0, −103) 0.833 109.533(2, 3, −46) 0.841
49.541(1, 0, −60) 0.500 32.278(2, 0, −162) 0.833 50.737(2, 0, −102) 0.833 111.514(2, 3, −45) 0.849
50.380(1, 0, −59) 0.500 32.492(2, 0, −161) 0.834 51.249(2, 0, −101) 0.833 113.148(2, 3, −44) 0.852
51.250(1, 0, −58) 0.501 32.702(2, 0, −160) 0.834 51.766(2, 0, −100) 0.833 115.191(2, 3, −43) 0.844
52.147(1, 0, −57) 0.501 32.895(2, 0, −159) 0.835 52.281(2, 0, −99) 0.832 117.683(2, 3, −42) 0.841
53.065(1, 0, −56) 0.503 33.041(2, 0, −158) 0.836 52.782(2, 0, −98) 0.832 120.369(2, 3, −41) 0.842
53.993(1, 0, −55) 0.506 33.203(2, 0, −157) 0.834 53.263(2, 0, −97) 0.832 123.145(2, 3, −40) 0.846
54.909(1, 0, −54) 0.516 33.412(2, 0, −156) 0.834 53.737(2, 0, −96) 0.834 125.894(2, 3, −39) 0.855
55.798(1, 0, −53) 0.532 33.635(2, 0, −155) 0.833 54.234(2, 0, −95) 0.835 128.436(2, 4, −39) 0.865
56.699(1, 0, −52) 0.550 33.865(2, 0, −154) 0.833 54.769(2, 0, −94) 0.836 130.908(2, 4, −38) 0.857
57.649(1, 0, −51) 0.577 34.099(2, 0, −153) 0.833 55.338(2, 0, −93) 0.836 133.694(2, 4, −37) 0.848
58.557(1, 0, −50) 0.631 34.335(2, 0, −152) 0.833 55.929(2, 0, −92) 0.837 136.539(2, 4, −36) 0.857
59.358(1, 1, −50) 0.601 34.575(2, 0, −151) 0.833 56.528(2, 0, −91) 0.839 139.175(2, 4, −35) 0.865
60.334(1, 1, −49) 0.529 34.819(2, 0, −150) 0.833 57.115(2, 0, −90) 0.844 142.286(2, 4, −34) 0.853
61.499(1, 1, −48) 0.509 35.066(2, 0, −149) 0.833 57.674(2, 0, −89) 0.849 146.036(2, 4, −33) 0.846

Note. ${\nu }_{\mathrm{theo}}$ is the calculated frequency in units of μHz. np denotes the number of radial nodes in propagation cavity of p-mode. ng denotes the number of radial nodes in propagation cavity of g-mode. ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ is one parameter  that measures the size of rotational splitting.

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In Table 3, we show comparisons of the theoretical frequencies and the observed frequencies. The theoretical frequencies with $m\ne 0$ are deduced from m = 0 modes in Table 2 based on the parameter ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$. It can be seen in Table 3 that m = 0 components in Multiplets 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 10 are detected. However, m = 0 components in Multiplets 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 have not been detected. The filled circles in Figure 3 mark m = 0 components in these multiplets of Table 3. As shown in Figure 3, the values of ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ for oscillation modes with m = 0 in Multiplets 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 10 are in good agreement with the asymptotic value of g modes. For Multiplets 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, the values of ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ of their corresponding m = 0 modes also agree well with the asymptotic value. The above analyses also show that performing mode identifications on basis of the regularities of g modes is self-consistent.

Table 3.  Comparsions of the Theoretcial Frequencies and the Observed Multiplets of Table 1

Multiplet ID ${\nu }^{\mathrm{obs}}$ ${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}({\ell },m)$ ${\rm{\Delta }}\nu $ Multiplet ID ${\nu }^{\mathrm{obs}}$ ${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}({\ell },m)$ ${\rm{\Delta }}\nu $
    (μHz) (μHz) (μHz)     (μHz) (μHz) (μHz)
  f25 110.510 110.571(1, −1) 0.061   f36 127.547 128.271(2, −2) 0.724
          8        
1 f11 113.886 113.868(1, 0) 0.018   f38 132.804 133.723(2, −1) 0.919
  f28 117.063 117.164(1, +1) 0.101  
            f30 119.420 120.104(2, −2) 0.684
          9        
  f6 57.147 56.999(1, −1) 0.148   f33 124.662 125.506(2, −1) 0.844
2          
  f2 60.345 60.334(1, 0) 0.011  
            f27 115.266 115.191(2, 0) 0.075
          10      
  f20 85.341 85.536(1, 0) 0.195   f35 125.866 125.830(2, +2) 0.036
3          
  f21 88.719 88.712(1, +1) 0.007  
            f18 79.056 79.678(2, −2) 0.622
          11      
  f22 93.218 93.591(1, 0) 0.373   f8 95.664 95.581(2, +1) 0.083
4          
  f3 96.445 96.843(1, +1) 0.398  
            f19 81.195 81.117(2, −1) 0.078
          12      
  f5 55.144 54.580(1, −1) 0.564   f9 97.869 96.943(2, +2) 0.926
5          
  f15 61.582 62.534(1, +1) 0.952  
            f16 69.725 69.482(2, −2) 0.243
          13      
  f10 109.677 109.755(2, −2) 0.078   f7 91.500 90.887(2, +2) 0.613
6 f32 120.354 120.369(2, 0) 0.015  
            f24 98.519 98.931(2, −2) 0.412
  f37 131.031 130.983(2, +2) 0.048 14      
            f31 119.707 120.134(2, +2) 0.427
  f4 50.001 50.231(2, −2) 0.230  
            f34 125.531 125.736(2, −2) 0.205
7 f14 55.310 55.513(2, −1) 0.203 15      
            f39 147.122 147.342(2, +2) 0.220
  f17 71.803 71.359(2, +2) 0.444  

Note. ${\nu }^{\mathrm{obs}}$ is the observed frequencies in units of μHz, ${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}$ is the theoretical frequencies in units of μHz. ${\rm{\Delta }}\nu =| {\nu }^{\mathrm{obs}}-{\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}| $.

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Furthermore, we give possible mode identifications for f12, f13, and f23, and list them in Table 4. For f12, we find that the frequency (1, 4, −23, +1) 127.447 μHz may be its possible model counterpart. Moreover, we notice in Table 4 that both of (2, 2, −61, +2) 94.290 μHz and (2, 2, −57, +1) 94.370 μHz are possible model counterparts for f23. As discussed in Section 2, the spherical harmonic degree of f15 allows for two possibilities:  = 1 or  = 2. For the former case, f5 and f15 constitute one incomplete triplet (Multiplet 5 in Table 1). It can be seen in Table 3 that (1, 0, −50, −1) 54.580 μHz and (1, 0, − 50, +1) 62.534 μHz are perhaps their model counterparts. For this case, we notice in Figure 3 that ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ of the $m\ne 0$ component (1, 0, −50, 0) 58.557 μHz clearly deviated from the asymptotic value 0.5. For the latter case, f13 and f15 constitute one incomplete quintuplet, and (2, 0, −102, −2) 40.236 μHz and (2, 0, −102, +2) 61.238 μHz may be their mode counterparts. For this case, ${\beta }_{{\ell },n}$ of the central component (2, 0, −102, 0) 50.737 μHz is 0.833, which agrees well with the asymptotic value.

Table 4.  Possible Mode Identifications for the Three Isolated Pulsation Frequencies Bases on the Best-fitting Model

ID ${\nu }^{\mathrm{obs}}$ ${\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}({\ell },{n}_{{\rm{p}}},{n}_{{\rm{g}}},m)$ ${\rm{\Delta }}\nu $
  (μHz) (μHz) (μHz)
f1 57.101 57.123(0, 0, 0) 0.022
   
f12 127.707 127.447(1, 4, −23, +1) 0.260
   
f13 39.893 39.864(1, 0, −75, 0) 0.029
    39.825(2, 0, −151, +1) 0.068
    39.989(2, 0, −130, 0) 0.096
    39.878(2, 0, −115, −1) 0.015
f23 94.319 94.290(2, 2, −61, +2) 0.029
    94.370(2, 2, −57, +1) 0.051

Note. ${\rm{\Delta }}\nu =| {\nu }^{\mathrm{obs}}-{\nu }^{\mathrm{theo}}| $.

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4.2. Discussions

When we do model fittings, we only use the fundamental radial mode f1 and two nonraidal oscillation modes, f11 and f32, to fit with theoretical calculated frequencies. Figure 4 illustrates the profiles of Brunt−Väisälä frequency N and Lamb frequency L ( = 1, 2) for the best-fitting model. Figure 5 illustrates the scaled radial displacement eigenfunctions for the fundamental radial mode f1 and two nonradial oscillation modes f11 and f32. We adopt the default boundary of the helium core of MESA and mark the position of the hydrogen fraction Xcb = 0.01 in Figures 4 and 5 with the vertical lines. The outer zone is the envelope of the star, and the inner zone is the helium core. As shown Figure 5, the fundamental radial mode f1 mainly propagates in the stellar envelope, and then characterizes the features of the stellar envelope. However, for the two nonradial oscillation modes f11 and f32, they have pronounced features of mixed modes. Namely, distinct g-mode features appear in the helium core and p-mode features appear in the stellar envelope. Thus, the two nonradial oscillation modes can characterize the features of the helium core.

Figure 4.

Figure 4. N shows Brunt−Väisälä frequency and L ( = 1, 2) shows Lamb frequency. Mt shows the stellar mass. The vertical line marks the boundary of the helium core.

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Figure 5.

Figure 5. Scaled radial displacement eigenfunctions for the fundamental radial mode f1 and the two nonradial oscillation modes, f11 and f32, for the best-fitting model. ${X}_{q}=\sqrt{q(1-q)}$ and $q={M}_{r}/{M}_{t}$. Panel (a) is for the fundamental radial mode 57.123 μHz $({\ell }\,=\,0,{n}_{p}=0,{n}_{g}=0)$. Panel (b) is for the oscillation mode 113.868 μHz $({\ell }\,=\,1,{n}_{p}=3,{n}_{g}=-25)$. Panel (c) is for the oscillation mode 120.369 μHz $({\ell }\,=\,2,{n}_{p}=3,{n}_{g}=-41)$. Vertical line marks the boundary of the helium core.

Standard image High-resolution image

To investigate more detailed information on the structure of EE Cam, we introduce two asteroseismic quantities: the acoustic radius τ0 and the period separation Π0. Both τ0 and Π0 are independent of . The acoustic radius τ0 is the sound travel time for a sound wave from the core of the star to the surface. Aerts et al. (2010) define the acoustic radius τ0 as

Equation (5)

where cs denotes the adiabatic sound speed. The value of cs inside the helium core is much larger than that inside the stellar envelope, thus the features of the envelope of the star can be characterized by the acoustic radius τ0. The expression of Π0 is described as

Equation (6)

(Unno et al. 1979; Tassoul 1980; Aerts et al. 2010). In Equation (6), N denotes the Brunt−Väisälä frequency. The period separation Π0 is dominated by the behavior of the Brunt−Väisälä frequency inside the helium core of the star. Then the features of the helium core of the star can be characterized by Π0.

According to the analyses of Chen et al. (2016), both the stellar envelope and the helium core need to match the actual structure of EE Cam in order to fit the three pulsation modes (f1, f11, and f32). In Figure 2, it is very evident that $1/{\chi }^{2}$ of theoretical model with Z = 0.028 and M = 2.04 M is much higher than those of other theoretical models. Hence, τ0 and Π0 are determined to be 5.80 hr and 463.7 s, respectively. The size of the helium core of EE Cam is estimated to be about MHe = 0.181 M and RHe = 0.0796 R.

In addition, the rotational period Prot of EE Cam is determined to be ${1.84}_{-0.05}^{+0.07}$ days. The theoretical radius R of the best-fitting model is 4.12 R. According to the formula ${\upsilon }_{\mathrm{rot}}=2\pi R/{P}_{\mathrm{rot}}$, the equatorial rotation velocity ${\upsilon }_{\mathrm{rot}}$ is estimated to be ${113.6}_{-4.1}^{+2.7}$ km s−1. Based on the inclination angle i = 34 ± 4 deg (Breger et al. 2015), the value of ${\upsilon }_{\mathrm{rot}}\sin i$ is deduced to be ${63.5}_{-8.7}^{+7.8}$ km s−1, which is in accordance with the value $\upsilon \sin i=51\pm 8\,\mathrm{km}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}$ of Bush & Hintz (2008) and slight higher than the value $\upsilon \sin i$ = 40 ± 3 km s−1 of Breger et al. (2007).

The δ Scuti star EE Cam is an evolved star. As seen in Table 2, the frequency spectrum of EE Cam is very dense. The effects of rotational splitting will make the frequency spectrum much more complicated. Dziembowski et al. (1993) analyzed the effects of rotation on the frequency spectra of SPB stars and found that the rotationally split multiplets that are already begin to overlap at a rotational velocity of about a few km s−1. We searched for frequency differences ranging from 1 to 30 μHz in the observed frequencies of EE Cam. If oscillation modes with  = 3 are considered, we also found another possible scheme of mode identifications. There are 14 sets of rotationally split multiplets, including three sets of multiplets with  = 1: (i.e., (f22, f8, f9), (f6, f15), and (f27, f31)); seven sets of multiplets with  = 2 (i.e., (f19, f21, f3), (f10, f28, f33), (f32, f12), (f11, f34), (f13, f5), (f16, f20), (f25, f35)); and four sets of multiplets with  = 3 (i.e., (f23, f24, f30), (f18, f7), (f14, f17), (f37, f39)). Four observed frequencies (i.e., f2, f4, f36, and f38) do not show frequency splitting. In this case, we found that most of the frequency differences in those multiplets are two or more times that of the averaged rotational splittings. In addition, the dipole mode f2 identified by Breger et al. (2015) does not show frequency splittings. The frequency f3 is identified as a mode with l = 2 based on the regularities of rotational splitting. However, Breger et al. (2015) suggested that f3 is a dipole mode based on the line-profile variations. As a consequence, we suggested the mode identifications in Section 2 of this paper.

In our work, we fit three frequencies (f1, f11, and f32) for each stellar model by changing three independent physical parameters (i.e., the stellar mass M, the metallicity Z, and the effective temperature Teff). To test effects of other physical parameters, like the convective core overshooting on our fitting results, much more stellar models have been computed, fov ranging from 0.001 to 0.010 with a step of 0.001. The parameter of fov describes the efficiency of the overshooting mixing, and the definition of fov is identical to that of Chen et al. (2017). After doing model fittings, we find 13 other stellar models fitting well to the three frequencies (f1, f11, and f32). Then we compare their theoretical frequencies with the observed frequencies in Table 3. Among these 13 stellar models, the structures of two stellar models with $(M,Z,{f}_{\mathrm{ov}},{\chi }^{2})$ = (2.03, 0.026, 0.001, 0.0065) and (2.01, 0.025, 0.002, 0.0079) are alike with that of our best-fitting model. Their acoustic radius τ0 and period separation Π0 are (5.82 hr, 463.5 s) and (5.79 hr, 463.8 s), respectively. They can reproduce the multiplets in Table 3. Howerver, their vaules of ${\chi }^{2}$ are higher than that of our best-fitting model by one order of magnitude. The other 11 stellar models can not reproduce all of those multiplets in Table 3.

5. Summary and Conclusions

In this work, we have performed a detailed asteroseismic analysis for the δ Scuti pulsating star EE Cam. We try to disentangle the observed frequency spectra of EE Cam with the method of the rotational splitting. Then we build a grid of theoretical models to fitting the identified oscillation modes, which aims at reproducing these observed multiplets and getting the accurate fundamental stellar parameters, as well as investigating the information on the structure of the pulsating star. The main results obtained are summarized as follows.

  • 1.  
    The frequency spectra of the δ Scuti pulsating star EE Cam can be disentangled only with oscillation modes of  = 0, 1, and 2. A total of 15 sets of multiplets are found, including five sets of  = 1 multiplets and 10 sets of  = 2 multiplets. The rotational period Prot is deduced to be ${1.84}_{-0.05}^{+0.07}$ days from the frequency differences in these multiplets.
  • 2.  
    According to the results of model fittings, we select the theoretical model with the minimum value of ${\chi }^{2}$ as the best-fitting model, which has M = 2.04 M, Z = 0.028, ${T}_{\mathrm{eff}}=6433\,{\rm{K}}$, $\mathrm{log}L/{L}_{\odot }=1.416$, R = 4.12 R, $\mathrm{log}g=3.518$, and ${\chi }^{2}=0.00035$. For the best-fitting model, the observed multiplets are well matched.
  • 3.  
    Based on the best-fitting model, we find that most of the oscillation frequencies belong to the so-called mixed modes. The fundamental radial mode f1 mainly offers constraints on the properties of the stellar envelope, and these properties can be characterized by the acoustic radius ${\tau }_{0}$. However for the two nonradial oscillation modes, f11 and f32, they mainly offer constraints on the helium core, for which the features can be characterized by the period separation Π0. Finally, τ0 and Π0 are determined to be 5.80 hr and 463.7 s, respectively, and the size of the helium core is estimated to be MHe = 0.181 M and RHe = 0.0796 R.

This work is supported by the NSFC of China (Grant No. 11333006, 11521303, and 11503079) and by the foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB09010202). The authors gratefully acknowledge an anonymous referee for instructive advice and productive suggestions. The authors gratefully acknowledge the computing time granted by the Yunnan Observatories, and provided on the facilities at the Yunnan Observatories Supercomputing Platform. The authors also acknowledge the discussions with J.-J. Guo, Q.-S. Zhang, T. Wu, G.-F. Lin.

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10.3847/1538-4357/aa6339