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.

We have detected 90 objects with periods and lightcurve structure similar to those of field [delta] Scuti stars, using the Massive Compact Halo Object (MACHO) Project database of Galactic bulge photometry. If we assume similar extinction values for all candidates and absolute magnitudes similar to those of other field high-amplitude [delta] Scuti stars (HADS), the majority of these objects lie in or near the Galactic bulge. At least two of these objects are likely foreground [delta] Scuti stars, one of which may be an evolved nonradial pulsator, similar to other evolved, disk-population [delta] Scuti stars. We have analyzed the light curves of these objects and find that they are similar to the light curves of field [delta] Scuti stars and the [delta] Scuti stars found by the Optical Gravitational Lens Experiment (OGLE). However, the amplitude distribution of these sources lies between those of low- and high-amplitude [delta] Scuti stars, which suggests that they may be an intermediate population. We have found nine double-mode HADS with frequency ratios ranging from 0.75 to 0.79, four probable double- and multiple-mode objects, and another four objects with marginal detections of secondary modes. The low frequencies (5-14 cycles d−1) and the observed period ratios of ≈0.77 suggest that the majority of these objects are evolved stars pulsating in fundamental or first overtone radial modes.

Advances in Machine Learning and Data Mining for Astronomy documents numerous successful collaborations among computer scientists, statisticians, and astronomers who illustrate the application of state-of-the-art machine learning and data mining techniques in astronomy. Due to the massive amount and complexity of data in most scientific disciplines, the material discussed in this text transcends traditional boundaries between various areas in the sciences and computer science. The book’s introductory part provides context to issues in the astronomical sciences that are also important to health, social, and physical sciences, particularly probabilistic and statistical aspects of classification and cluster analysis. The next part describes a number of astrophysics case studies that leverage a range of machine learning and data mining technologies. In the last part, developers of algorithms and practitioners of machine learning and data mining show how these tools and techniques are used in astronomical applications. With contributions from leading astronomers and computer scientists, this book is a practical guide to many of the most important developments in machine learning, data mining, and statistics. It explores how these advances can solve current and future problems in astronomy and looks at how they could lead to the creation of entirely new algorithms within the data mining community.

IAU Transactions are published as a volume corresponding to each General Assembly. Volume A is produced prior to the Assembly and contains Reports on Astronomy, prepared by each Commission President. The intention is to summarize the astronomical results that have affected the work of the Commission since the production of the previous Reports up to a time which is about one year prior to the General Assembly. Volume B is produced after the Assembly and contains accounts of Commission Meetings which were held, together with other material. The reports included in the present volume range from outline summaries to lengthy compilations and references.

A major goal of asteroseismology is a better understanding of stellar evolution via ''snapshots'' of many stars of different masses in different evolutionary states. For stars of about 2M{sub {circle_dot}} near the sequence, b Scuti stars are the usual suspects. There is an ongoing renaissance in theoretical modeling of 6 Scuti stars brought on by improvements in constitutive physics and by a dramatic increase in the number of modes observed. FG Virginis and CD-24' 7599 are two of the best studied objects, and they have 19 and 13 known frequencies, respectively. . We create models using an updated and modified version of the Iben code described by Guzik & Cox that includes either of the two versions of the OPAL opacities . We use the star's observed location on the H-R diagram as a starting point for our seismological modeling. Because there is no evidence for observed t = 3 modes, we only consider l = 0, 1, and 2 modes in our analysis. We take into account rotational splitting (about 5 - 10 [mu]Hz) in our frequency matching. Several observed modes must be rotationally split members of a given mode. CD-24' 7599 is less than halfway through core hydrogen burning, and the modes appear to be a set of consecutive 3rd through 5th overtones of {ital l} = 0 through 2 modes. With only 13 modes, we find satisfactory fits with models between 1.9 and 2.0 M{sub {circle_dot}} that fall within the observed luminosity and effective temperature range. By contrast, Guzik & Bradley suggest that FG Virginis is over halfway through core hydrogen burning and the best fitting models lie near 1.80 or 2.00 M{sub {circle_dot}}. We see persistent discrepancies in some low frequency modes, which suggests we may need a small amount of core overshoot or a slight change in metallicity to duplicate FG Virginis.