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Interferometry to Determine Stellar Shapes: Application to Achernar

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Cartography of the Sun and the Stars

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 914))

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Abstract

The shape of stellar photospheres can depart significantly from the spherical geometry, due e.g. to fast rotation. In this chapter, I focus on the application of long-baseline interferometry to the determination of the photospheric shape of fast rotating stars. I present the example of the VLT Interferometer observations of the nearby Be star Achernar (α Eri), using the VINCI (two telescopes) and PIONIER (four telescopes) beam combiners. I present the adjustment of a simplified model of the light distribution of Achernar to the measured interferometric visibilities and closure phases . This example application is based on the LITpro software from the JMMC.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    vndrs package, see Kervella et al. (2004).

  2. 2.

    pndrs package, see Le Bouquin et al. (2011).

  3. 3.

    LITpro software, available at http://www.jmmc.fr/litpro.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to organizers of the Besançon school for their invitation. This research has made use of the Jean-Marie Mariotti Center LITpro service co-developed by CRAL, LAOG and FIZEAU. This research received the support of PHASE, the high angular resolution partnership between ONERA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS and University Denis Diderot Paris 7. I acknowledge financial support from the “Programme National de Physique Stellaire” (PNPS) of CNRS/INSU, France. I used the SIMBAD and VIZIER databases at the CDS, Strasbourg (France), and NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France

    Pierre Kervella

  2. Unidad Mixta Internacional Franco-Chilena de Astronomía (UMI 3386), CNRS/INSU, Paris, France

    Pierre Kervella

  3. Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Pierre Kervella

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  1. Pierre Kervella
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Correspondence to Pierre Kervella .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Nice, France

    Jean-Pierre Rozelot

  2. Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, Meudon, France

    Coralie Neiner

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Kervella, P. (2016). Interferometry to Determine Stellar Shapes: Application to Achernar. In: Rozelot, JP., Neiner, C. (eds) Cartography of the Sun and the Stars. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 914. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24151-7_6

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