The McDonald Observatory search for pulsating sdA stars: asteroseismic support for multiple populations

TL;DR

This study investigates pulsating sdA stars using photometry and spectroscopy, revealing diverse pulsation periods that support the idea of multiple stellar populations within the sdA class.

Contribution

It extends observational campaigns to identify pulsating sdA stars and provides evidence for multiple stellar populations through asteroseismic analysis.

Findings

Detected pulsations in 7 out of 23 sdA stars.

Pulsation periods range from 4.6 minutes to 12.3 hours.

Evidence supports multiple stellar populations within sdA class.

Abstract

Context. The nature of the recently identified "sdA" spectroscopic class of star is not well understood. The thousands of known sdAs have H-dominated spectra, spectroscopic surface gravities intermediate to main sequence stars and isolated white dwarfs, and effective temperatures below the lower limit for He-burning subdwarfs. Most are likely products of binary stellar evolution, whether extremely low-mass white dwarfs and their precursors, or blue stragglers in the halo. Aims. Stellar eigenfrequencies revealed through time series photometry of pulsating stars sensitively probe stellar structural properties. The properties of pulsations exhibited by any sdA stars would contribute importantly to our developing understanding of this class. Methods. We extend our photometric campaign to discover pulsating extremely low-mass white dwarfs from McDonald Observatory to target sdA stars classified from SDSS spectra. We also obtain follow-up time series spectroscopy to search for binary signatures from four new pulsators. Results. Out of 23 sdA stars observed, we clearly detect stellar pulsations in seven. Dominant pulsation periods range from 4.6 minutes to 12.3 hours, with most on ~hour timescales. We argue specific classifications for some of the new variables, identifying both compact and likely main sequence dwarf pulsators, along with a candidate low-mass RR Lyrae star. Conclusions. With dominant pulsation periods spanning orders of magnitude, the pulsational evidence supports the emerging narrative that the sdA class consists of multiple stellar populations. Since multiple types of sdA exhibit stellar pulsations, follow-up asteroseismic analysis can be used to probe the precise evolutionary natures and stellar structures of these individual subpopulations.