In this study, vibrational properties and stability of delta-Scuti like pulsating pre-main sequence stars have been investigated. Studies were held in the mass range 2-4 Mo and limited to radial linear adiabatic pulsations. Numerical computations were performed by the oscillation program written by Kýrbýyýk & Al-Murad (1993). The models were selected to be at the latest phases of the pre-main sequence evolution where the luminosity starts to increase. We have limited our calculations upto the end of the radiative inner regions, since at the surface of the star, our adiabatic perturbation computation does not perfectly fit to the relatively thin non-adiabatic convective envelope of the star. The results of the stability analysis showed that the PMS models undergo an instability whose time period is a function of mass. Instability Strip of pulsating PMS stars was re-drawn with comparison to M. Marconi & F. Palla (1998). The effect of gravitational contraction on stability was also investigated.

Annotation Contains 35 papers presented as part of the August 1999 workshop. The opening papers review photometric techniques, spectroscopic techniques, and theoretical modeling of the pulsations. Shorter contributions discuss such topics as double-mode SX phoenicis variables in globular clusters, convective effects on p-mode stability in delta Scuti stars, problems encountered in the Hipparcos variable stars analysis, and a list of delta Scuti stars and their associated parameters. No subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This is the final report of a three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective is to learn more about the internal structure of two classes of variable stars, by using the observational data afforded by their pulsation properties. The authors updated the one-dimensional computer codes to calculate the evolution and pulsation frequencies of representative delta Scuti and LBV models. They compared the observed pulsation properties with model predictions in an iterative process to find a model (or models) with interior structures that matched the observational constraints for several delta Scuti stars. They carried out nonlinear hydrodynamic modeling of LBV envelopes and proposed a mechanism for their periodic outbursts. Finally, they began validation of a two-dimensional stellar evolution code that will be used to investigate the effects of rotation and hydrodynamic instabilities on the interior structure of these stars.

This outstanding thesis by Dominic Bowman provides a thorough investigation of long-standing questions as to whether amplitude modulation is astrophysical, whether it offers insights into pulsating stars, and whether simple beating of modes with stable amplitudes is unrecognised because of a lack of frequency resolution. In this thesis, the author studied a uniform sample of 983 delta Scuti stars—the most common type of main-sequence heat engine pulsator—that were observed nearly continuously for 4 years at stunning photometric precision of only a few parts per million by the Kepler space mission. With no mission planned to supersede the Kepler 4-year data set, this thesis will stand as the definitive study of these questions for many years. With revolutionary photometric data from the planet-hunting Kepler space mission, asteroseismic studies have been carried out on many hundreds of main-sequence solar-type stars and about 10,000 red giants. It is easy to understand why those stochastically driven stars have highly variable amplitudes. Over much of the rest of the Hertzsprung–Russell (HR) diagram, stellar pulsations are driven by heat mechanisms, which are much more regular than the stochastic driving in solar-like pulsators. Yet for decades, amplitude and frequency modulation of pulsation modes have been observed in almost all types of heat-driven pulsating stars. The author shows that the amplitude and frequency modulation are astrophysical, and he has investigated their implications and prospects to provide new insights into the delta Scuti stars and the many other types of heat-engine pulsators across the HR diagram.

In [delta] Scuti star seismology, most researchers use evolution and pulsation models assuming a solar element mixture and Z = 0.02 for preliminary determinations of stellar masses or evolutionary state from observed frequencies. Here the authors investigate the consequences of this assumption by considering the effects of metallicity changes in the models on their inferences of the internal structure of [delta] Scuti stars. They use the main-sequence [delta] Scuti star FG Vir, and the more evolved shell hydrogen burning star [delta] Scuti to illustrate their results.

Understanding the stars is the bedrock of modern astrophysics. Stars are the source of life. The chemical enrichment of our Milky Way and of the Universe withallelementsheavierthanlithiumoriginatesintheinteriorsofstars.Stars arethe tracersofthe dynamics ofthe Universe,gravitationallyimplying much more than meets the eye. Stars ionize the interstellar medium and re-ionized the early intergalactic medium. Understanding stellar structure and evolution is fundamental. While stellar structure and evolution are understood in general terms, we lack important physical ingredients, despite extensive research during recent decades.Classicalspectroscopy,photometry,astrometryandinterferometryof stars have traditionally been used as observational constraints to deduce the internal stellar physics. Unfortunately, these types of observations only allow the tuning of the basic common physics laws under stellar conditions with relatively poor precision. The situation is even more worrisome for unknown aspects of the physics and dynamics in stars. These are usually dealt with by using parameterised descriptions of, e.g., the treatments of convection, rotation,angularmomentumtransport,theequationofstate,atomicdi?usion andsettlingofelements,magneto-hydrodynamicalprocesses,andmore.There is a dearth of observational constraints on these processes, thus solar values areoftenassignedtothem.Yetitishardtoimaginethatonesetofparameters is appropriate for the vast range of stars.

Annotation Papers from a July 2001 meeting report on the outcome of two decades of scientific collaboration between Flemish and South African researchers in the field of small-amplitude short-period variables and long-period pulsating stars. Some specific topics include global campaigns on Delta Scuti stars, photometric and spectroscopic reduction techniques, period changes in V 1162 Orionis, and autocorrelation analysis of Hipparcos photometry of short-period A and B stars. Other topics include oscillating blue stragglers in galactic globular clusters, and photometry of Delta Serpentis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Simon Murphy's thesis has significant impact on the wide use of the revolutionary Kepler Mission data, leading to a new understanding in stellar astrophysics. It first provides a deep characterisation and comparison of the Kepler long cadence and short cadence data, with particular insight into the Kepler reduction pipeline. It then brings together modern reviews of rotation and peculiarities in A-type stars, and their relationship with the pulsating delta Scuti stars. This is the first combined review of these subjects since the classic monograph by Sydney Wolff, "The A stars," was published three decades ago. The thesis presents a novel technique, Super-Nyquist Asteroseismology, that has opened up the asteroseismic study of thousands of Kepler stars. It shows case studies of delta Scuti stars examining amplitude growth, super-Nyquist pulsation, and pulsation in a high-amplitude, population II SX Phoenicis star in a 343-d binary. This work informs our understanding of the relation of rotation to peculiarity, hence has applications to atomic diffusion theory. This is a brilliant thesis written in an elegant and engaging style.