How to separate the low amplitude delta Scuti variation from the instrumental ones in CoRoT data?

TL;DR

This paper develops methods to distinguish genuine low-amplitude delta Scuti star variations from instrumental noise in CoRoT data, especially affected by South Atlantic Anomaly interference.

Contribution

It introduces new techniques for separating stellar signals from instrumental effects in CoRoT observations of low-amplitude delta Scuti stars.

Findings

Effective identification of intrinsic stellar frequencies despite instrumental noise.

Demonstrated methods on synthetic and real data to improve frequency analysis.

Enhanced accuracy in analyzing low-amplitude delta Scuti star variability.

Abstract

Rich regular frequency patterns were found in the Fourier spectra of low-amplitude delta Scuti stars observed by CoRoT satellite (see Papar\'o et al. 2016a,b). The CoRoT observations are, however, influenced by the disturbing effect of the South Atlantic Anomaly. The effect is marginal for high amplitude variable stars but it could be critical in the case of low amplitude variables, especially if the frequency range of the intrinsic variation overlaps the interval of the instrumental frequencies. Some tests were carried out both on synthetic and real data for distinguishing technical and stars' frequencies.