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Study of transient nature of classical Be stars using multi-epoch optical spectroscopy

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Abstract

Variability is a commonly observed property of classical Be stars (CBe) stars. In extreme cases, complete disappearance of the H\(\alpha \) emission line occurs, indicating a disc-less state in CBe stars. The disc-loss and reappearing phases can be identified by studying the H\(\alpha \) line profiles of CBe stars on a regular basis. In this paper, we present the study of a set of selected nine bright CBe stars, in the wavelength range of 6200–6700 Å, to better understand their disc transient nature through continuous monitoring of their H\(\alpha \) line profile variations for five consecutive years (2015–2019). Based on our observations, we suggest that four of the program stars (HD 4180, HD 142926, HD 164447 and HD 171780) are possibly undergoing disc-loss episodes, whereas one other star (HD 23302) might be passing through disc formation phase. The remaining four stars (HD 237056, HD 33357, HD 38708 and HD 60855) have shown signs of hosting a stable disc in recent epochs. Through visual inspection of the overall variation observed in the H\(\alpha \) EW for these stars, we classified them into groups of growing, stable and dissipating discs, respectively. Moreover, our comparative analysis using the BeSS database points out that the star HD 60855 has passed through a disc-less episode in 2008, with its disc formation happening probably over a timescale of only two months, between January and March 2008.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, for funding our research under grant number EMR/2016/006823. We thank the Center for Research, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India, for funding our research, which was a MRP in nature. Next, we convey our heartiest gratitude to the staff members of the Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO), Kavalur, for continuous monitoring of our program stars and obtaining their spectra with the UAGS instrument. Thanks is also deserved by databases, such as the SIMBAD database and the online VizieR library service for helping us in literature survey and obtaining relevant data. This work has made use of the BeSS database, operated at LESIA, Observatoire de Meudon, France (http://basebe.obspm.fr). Hence, we thank the BeSS database too.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Hosur Main Road, Bengaluru, 560029, India

    Gourav Banerjee, Blesson Mathew, K. T. Paul, Anjusha Balan, Suman Bhattacharyya, Deeja Moosa, C. S. Dheeraj, Aleeda Charly & Megha Raghu

  2. Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, Bengaluru, 560034, India

    Annapurni Subramaniam

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada

    R. Anusha

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  1. Gourav Banerjee
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Correspondence to Gourav Banerjee.

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Banerjee, G., Mathew, B., Paul, K.T. et al. Study of transient nature of classical Be stars using multi-epoch optical spectroscopy. J Astrophys Astron 43, 102 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12036-022-09891-y

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