An asteroseismic study of the O9V star HD 46202 from CoRoT space-based photometry

TL;DR

This study uses CoRoT space photometry to analyze pulsations in the O9V star HD 46202, revealing detected frequencies and model fits, but also highlighting unresolved excitation issues in stellar pulsation theories.

Contribution

First asteroseismic analysis of HD 46202 using high-precision space data, providing new constraints on stellar parameters and core overshooting.

Findings

Detected beta Cep-like pulsation frequencies with amplitudes ~0.1 mmag

Best-fitting models require core overshooting parameter alpha_ov = 0.10 ± 0.05

Observed frequencies are not excited by current theoretical models

Abstract

The O9V star HD 46202, which is a member of the young open cluster NGC 2244, was observed by the CoRoT satellite in October/November 2008 during a short run of 34 days. From the very high-precision light curve, we clearly detect beta Cep-like pulsation frequencies with amplitudes of ~0.1 mmag and below. A comparison with stellar models was performed using a chi^2 as a measure for the goodness-of-fit between the observed and theoretically computed frequencies. The physical parameters of our best-fitting models are compatible with the ones deduced spectroscopically. A core overshooting parameter alpha_ov = 0.10 +- 0.05 pressure scale height is required. None of the observed frequencies are theoretically excited with the input physics used in our study. More theoretical work is thus needed to overcome this shortcoming in how we understand the excitation mechanism of pulsation modes in such a massive star. A similar excitation problem has also been encountered for certain pulsation modes in beta Cep stars recently modelled asteroseismically.