Abstract We use the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging telescope Array System (VERITAS) imaging air Cherenkov telescope array to obtain the first measured angular diameter of β UMa at visual ...wavelengths using stellar intensity interferometry (SII) and independently constrain the limb-darkened angular diameter. The age of the Ursa Major moving group has been assessed from the ages of its members, including nuclear member Merak ( β UMa), an A1-type subgiant, by comparing effective temperature and luminosity constraints to model stellar evolution tracks. Previous interferometric limb-darkened angular-diameter measurements of β UMa in the near-infrared (Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array, 1.149 ± 0.014 mas) and mid-infrared (Keck Nuller, 1.08 ± 0.07 mas), together with the measured parallax and bolometric flux, have constrained the effective temperature. This paper presents current VERITAS-SII observation and analysis procedures to derive squared visibilities from correlation functions. We fit the resulting squared visibilities to find a limb-darkened angular diameter of 1.07 ± 0.04 (stat) ± 0.05 (sys) mas, using synthetic visibilities from a stellar atmosphere model that provides a good match to the spectrum of β UMa in the optical wave band. The VERITAS-SII limb-darkened angular diameter yields an effective temperature of 9700 ± 200 ± 200 K, consistent with ultraviolet spectrophotometry, and an age of 390 ± 29 ± 32 Myr, using MESA Isochrones and Stellar Tracks. This age is consistent with 408 ± 6 Myr from the CHARA Array angular diameter.
Context.Only a handful of debris disks have been imaged up to now. Due to the need for high dynamic range and high angular resolution, very little is known about the inner planetary region, where ...small amounts of warm dust are expected to be found. Aims.We investigate the close neighbourhood of Vega with the help of infrared stellar interferometry and estimate the integrated K-band flux originating from the central 8 AU of the debris disk. Methods.We performed precise visibility measurements at both short (~30 m) and long (~150 m) baselines with the FLUOR beam-combiner installed at the CHARA Array (Mt Wilson, California) in order to separately resolve the emissions from the extended debris disk (short baselines) and from the stellar photosphere (long baselines). Results.After revising Vega's K-band angular diameter ($\theta_{\rm UD} = 3.202$ ± 0.005 mas), we show that a significant deficit in squared visibility ($\Delta V^2 = 1.88$ ± 0.34%) is detected at short baselines with respect to the best-fit uniform disk stellar model. This deficit can be either attributed to the presence of a low-mass stellar companion around Vega, or as the signature of the thermal and scattered emissions from the debris disk. We show that the presence of a close companion is highly unlikely, as well as other possible perturbations (stellar morphology, calibration), and deduce that we have most probably detected the presence of dust in the close neighbourhood of Vega. The resulting flux ratio between the stellar photosphere and the debris disk amounts to 1.29 ± 0.19% within the FLUOR field-of-view (~7.8 AU). Finally, we complement our K-band study with archival photometric and interferometric data in order to evaluate the main physical properties of the inner dust disk. The inferred properties suggest that the Vega system could be currently undergoing major dynamical perturbations.
We have measured the angular diameters of six M dwarfs with the CHARA Array, a long-baseline optical interferometer located at Mount Wilson Observatory. Spectral types range from M1.0 V to M3.0 V and ...linear radii from 0.38 to 0.69 R sub( ). These results are consistent with the seven other M dwarf radii measurements from optical interferometry and with those for 14 stars in eclipsing binary systems. We compare all directly measured M dwarf radii to model predictions and find that current models underestimate the true stellar radii by up to 15%-20%. The differences are small among the metal-poor stars but become significantly larger with increasing metallicity. This suggests that theoretical models for low-mass stars may be missing some opacity source that alters the computed stellar radii.
We have fit synthetic visibilities from three-dimensional (CO super(5)BOLD+PHOENIX) and one-dimensional (PHOENIX, ATLAS 12) model stellar atmospheres of Procyon (F5 IV) to high-precision ...interferometric data from the VLT Interferometer (K band) and from the Mark III interferometer (500 and 800 nm). These data sets provide a test of theoretical wavelength-dependent limb-darkening predictions. The work of Allende Prieto et al. has shown that the temperature structure from a spatially and temporally averaged three-dimensional hydrodynamic model produces significantly less limb darkening at 500 nm relative to the temperature structure of a one-dimensional MARCS model atmosphere with a standard mixing-length approximation for convection. Our direct fits to the interferometric data confirm this prediction. A one-dimensional ATLAS 12 model with "approximate overshooting" provides the required temperature gradient. We show, however, that one-dimensional models cannot reproduce the ultraviolet spectrophotometry below 160 nm with effective temperatures in the range constrained by the measured bolometric flux and angular diameter. We find that a good match to the full spectral energy distribution can be obtained with a composite model consisting of a weighted average of 12 one-dimensional model atmospheres based on the surface intensity distribution of a three-dimensional granulation simulation. We emphasize that one-dimensional models with overshooting may realistically represent the mean temperature structure of F-type stars such as Procyon, but the same models will predict redder colors than observed because they lack the multicomponent temperature distribution expected for the surfaces of these stars.
We present the results of long-baseline interferometric observations of the classical Cepheids Polaris and delta Cep in the near infrared K' band (1.9-2.3 mu m), using the FLUOR instrument of the ...CHARA Array. Following our previous detection of a circumstellar envelope (CSE) around Car (Kervella et al. 2006), we report similar detections around Polaris and delta Cep. Owing to the large data set acquired on Polaris, in both the first and second lobes of visibility function, we have detected the presence of a circum-stellar envelope (CSE), located at 2.4 plus or minus 0.1 stellar radii, accounting for 1.5 plus or minus 0.4% of the stellar flux in the K band. A similar model is applied to the delta Cep data, which shows improved agreement compared to a model without CSE. Finally, we find that the bias in estimating the angular diameter of delta Cep in the framework of the Baade-Wesselink method (Merand et al. 2005b) is of the order of 1% or less in the K band. A complete study of the influence of the CSE is proposed in this context, showing that at the optimum baseline for angular diameter variation detection, the bias is of the order of the formal precision in the determination of the delta Cep pulsation amplitude (1.6%).
We present K-band interferometric measurements of the limb-darkened (LD) intensity profile of the M4 giant star psi Phoenicis obtained with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and its ...commissioning instrument VINCI. High-precision squared visibility amplitudes in the second lobe of the visibility function were obtained employing two 8.2 m Unit Telescopes (UTs). This took place one month after light from UTs was first combined for interferometric fringes. In addition, we sampled the visibility function at small spatial frequencies using the 40 cm test siderostats. Our measurement constrains the diameter of the star as well as its center-to-limb intensity variation (CLV). We construct a spherical hydrostatic PHOENIX model atmosphere based on spectrophotometric data from the literature and compare its CLV prediction with our interferometric measurement. We compare as well CLV predictions by plane-parallel hydrostatic PHOENIX, ATLAS 9, and ATLAS 12 models. We find that the Rosseland angular diameter as predicted by comparison of the spherical PHOENIX model with spectrophotometry is in good agreement with our interferometric diameter measurement. The shape of our measured visibility function in the second lobe is consistent with all considered PHOENIX and ATLAS model predictions, and is significantly different to uniform disk (UD) and fully darkened disk (FDD) models. We derive high-precision fundamental parameters for psi Phe, namely a Rosseland angular diameter of 8.13 plus or minus 0.2 mas, with the Hipparcos parallax corresponding to a Rosseland linear radius R of 86 plus or minus 3 R, and an effective temperature of 3550 plus or minus 50 K, with R corresponding to a luminosity of log L/L = 3.02 plus or minus 0.06. Together with evolutionary models, these values are consistent with a mass of 1.3 plus or minus 0.2 M, and a surface gravity of log g = 0.68 plus or minus 0.11.
We have obtained high-precision interferometric measurements of Vega with the CHARA Array and FLUOR beam combiner in the K' band at projected baselines between 103 and 273 m. The measured visibility ...amplitudes beyond the first lobe are significantly weaker than expected for a slowly rotating star characterized by a single effective temperature and surface gravity. Our measurements, when compared to synthetic visibilities and synthetic spectrophotometry from a Roche-von Zeipel gravity-darkened model atmosphere, provide strong evidence for the model of Vega as a rapidly rotating star viewed very nearly pole-on. Our best-fitting model indicates that Vega is rotating at 691% of its angular break-up rate with an equatorial velocity of 275 km s super(-1). Together with the measured v sin i, this velocity yields an inclination for the rotation axis of 5. For this model the pole-to-equator effective temperature difference is 62250 K, a value much larger than previously derived from spectral line analyses. A polar effective temperature of 10,150 K is derived from a fit to ultraviolet and optical spectrophotometry. The synthetic and observed spectral energy distributions are in reasonable agreement longward of 140 ran, where they agree to 5% or better. Shortward of 140 ran, the model is up to 10 times brighter than observed. The model has a luminosity of 637 L , a value 35% lower than Vega's apparent luminosity based on its bolometric flux and parallax, assuming a slowly rotating star. Our model predicts the spectral energy distribution of Vega as viewed from its equatorial plane, and it may be employed in radiative models for the surrounding debris disk.
Aims. We aim at directly detecting the presence of optically thin circumstellar dust emission within the terrestrial planetary zone around main sequence stars known to harbour cold debris discs. The ...present study focuses on a sample of six bright A- and early F-type stars. Methods. High-precision interferometric observations have been obtained in the near-infrared K band with the FLUOR instrument installed on the CHARA Array. The measured squared visibilities are compared to the expected visibility of the stellar photospheres based on theoretical photospheric models taking into account rotational distortion. We search for potential visibility reduction at short baselines, a direct piece of evidence for resolved circumstellar emission. Results. Our observations bring to light the presence of resolved circumstellar emission around one of the six target stars (\zeta Aql) at the 5\sigma level. The morphology of the emission source cannot be directly constrained because of the sparse spatial frequency sampling of our interferometric data. Using complementary adaptive optics observations and radial velocity measurements, we find that the presence of a low-mass companion is a likely origin for the excess emission. The potential companion is characterised by a K-band contrast of four magnitudes. It has a most probable mass of about 0.6 similar to M_{\odot} and is expected to orbit between about 5.5 AU and 8 AU from its host star assuming a purely circular orbit. Nevertheless, by adjusting a physical debris disc model to the observed Spectral Energy Distribution of the zeta Aql system, we also show that the presence of hot dust within 10 AU from zeta Aql, producing a total thermal emission equal to 1.69 pm 0.31% of the photospheric flux in the K band, is another viable explanation for the observed near-infrared excess. Our re-interpretation of archival near- to far-infrared photometric measurements shows however that cold dust is not present around zeta Aql at the sensitivity limit of the IRS and MIPS instruments onboard Spitzer, and urges us to remove zeta Aql from the category of bona fide debris disc stars. Conclusions. The hot debris disc around Vega (Absil et al. 2006) currently remains our only secure resolved detection within the context of this survey, with six genuine early-type debris disc stars observed so far. Further observations will be needed to assess whether zeta Aql also belongs to this hot debris disc category.
Cepheids play a key role in astronomy as standard candles for measuring intergalactic distances. Their distance is usually inferred from the period-luminosity relationship, calibrated using the ...semi-empirical Baade-Wesselink method. Using this method, the distance is known to a multiplicative factor, called the projection factor. Presently, this factor is computed using numerical models - it has hitherto never been measured directly. Based on our new interferometric measurements obtained with the CHARA Array and the already published parallax, we present a geometrical measurement of the projection factor of a Cepheid, delta Cep. The value we determined, p=1.27 ± 0.06, confirms the generally adopted value of p=1.36 within 1.5 sigmas. Our value is in line with recent theoretical predictions of Nardetto et al. (2004, A&A, 428, 131).
PDF
