We present preliminary results of the study of star-disk interaction in the classical T Tauri star V354 Mon, a member of the young stellar cluster NGC 2264. As part of an international campaign of observations of NGC 2264 organized from December 2011 to February 2012, high resolution photometric and spectroscopic data of this object were obtained simultaneously with the Chandra, CoRoT and Spitzer satellites, and ground-based telescopes, such as CFHT and ESO/VLT. The optical and infrared light curves of V354 Mon show periodic brightness minima that vary in depth and width every 5.21 days rotational cycle. We found evidence that the Hα emission line profile changes according to the period of photometric variations, indicating that the same phenomenon causes both modulations. Such correlation was also identified in a previous observational campaign on the same object, where we concluded that material non-uniformly distributed in the inner part of the disk is the main cause of the photometric modulation. This assumption is supported by the fact that the system is seen at high inclination. It is believed that this distortion of the inner part of the disk results from the dynamical interaction between the stellar magnetosphere, inclined with respect to the rotation axis, and the circumstellar disk, as also observed in the classical T Tauri star AA Tau, and predicted by magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations. A model of occultation by circumstellar material was applied to the photometric data in order to determine the parameters of the obscuring material during both observational campaigns, thus providing an investigation of its stability on a timescale of a few years. We also studied V422 Mon, a classical T Tauri star with photometric variations similar to those of V354 Mon at optical wavelengths, but with a distinct behavior in the infrared. The mechanism that produces such a difference is investigated, testing the predictions of magnetospheric accretion models.

It has long been known that rotation can have an appreciable impact on stellar pulsation — by modifying the usual p and g modes found in the non-rotating case, and by introducing new classes of modes. However, it's only relatively recently that advances in numerical simulations and complementary theoretical treatments have enabled us to model these phenomena in any great detail. In this talk I'll review highlights in this area (the ‘Greatest Hits’), before considering the flip side (or the ‘B-side’, for those of us old enough to remember vinyl records) of the pulsation-rotation interaction: how pulsation can itself influence internal rotation profiles.

PDM13 is a new graphic interface program dedicated to frequency domain analysis based on the Phase Dispersion Minimization technique (PDM, Stellingwerf 2012). In this paper, we will present the different algorithms running in PDM13, including the Auto-Segmentation, the Gauss-Newton and the PDM algorithms. More details on this triptych are available in our recent paper (Zalian et al., submitted). Their aim is to offer a simple and powerful way to extract frequency. Amongst the numerous improvements offered by the program, we will particularly focus on the reduction of aliases and the ability to look directly for multiple-period phenomena and the Blazhko effect. After that, we will show the first results from PDM13 using the Antarctica photometric survey.

β Cephei and SPB stars are pulsating stars for which the excitation of modes by the κ mechanism, due to the iron-group opacity peak, seems puzzling. We have first investigated the origins of the differences noticed between OP and OPAL iron and nickel opacity calculations (up to a factor 2), a fact which complicates the interpretation. To accomplish this task, new well-qualified calculations (SCO-RCG, HULLAC and ATOMIC) have been performed and compared to values of these tables, and most of the differences are now well understood. Next, we have exploited a dedicated experiment on chromium, iron and nickel, conducted at the LULI 2000 facilities. We found that, in the case of iron, detailed calculations (OP, ATOMIC and HULLAC) show good agreement, contrary to all of the non-detailed calculations. However, in the case of nickel, OP calculations show large discrepancies with the experiments but also with other codes. Thus, the opacity tables need to be revised in the thermodynamical conditions corresponding to the peak of the iron group. Consequently we study the evolution of this iron peak with changes in stellar mass, age, and metallicity to determine the relevant region where these tables should be revised.

Fourier analysis of the light curve of AC And from the HATNet database reveals the rich frequency structure of this object. Above 30 components are found down to the amplitude of 3 mmag. Several of these frequencies are not the linear combinations of the three basic components. We detect period increase in all three components that may lend support to the Population I classification of this variable.

The existence of starspots on late-type giant stars in close binary systems, that exhibit rapid rotation due to tidal locking, has been known for more than five decades. Photometric monitoring spanning decades has allowed studying the long-term magnetic activity in these stars revealing complicated activity cycles. The development of observing and analysis techniques that has occurred during the past two decades has also enabled us to study the detailed starspot and magnetic field configurations on these active giants. In the recent years magnetic fields have also been detected on slowly rotating giants and supergiant stars. In this paper I review what is known of the surface magnetism in the cool giant and supergiant stars.

We present a new Doppler imaging study for the Li-rich single K-giant DI Psc. Surface temperature maps are reconstructed for two subsequent rotation cycles. From the time evolution of the spot distribution antisolar-type differential rotation pattern is revealed. We show marks of non-uniform Li-abundance as well. The possible connection between the current evolutionary phase of the star and its magnetic activity is briefly discussed.

I report on a correlation between the saturated and non-saturated regimes of X-ray emission and the rotation sequences that have been observed in the M34 open cluster. An interpretation of this correlation in term of magnetic activity evolution in the early stage of evolution on the main sequence is presented.

The strongest known magnetic fields are found in neutron stars. I briefly discuss how they are inferred from observations, as well as the evidence for their time-evolution. I go on to show how these extremely strong fields are actually weak in terms of their effects on the stellar structure. This is also the case for magnetic stars on the upper main sequence and magnetic white dwarfs, which have similar total magnetic fluxes, perhaps pointing to an evolutionary connection. I suggest that a stable hydromagnetic equilibrium (containing a poloidal and a toroidal field component) could be established soon after the birth of the neutron star, aided by the strong compositional stratification of neutron star matter, and this state is slowly eroded by non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic processes such as beta decays and ambipolar diffusion in the core of the star and Hall drift and breaking of the solid in its crust. Over sufficiently long time scales, the fluid in the neutron star core will behave as if it were barotropic, because, depending on temperature and magnetic field strength, beta decays will keep adjusting the composition to the chemical equilibrium state, or ambipolar diffusion will decouple the charged component from the neutrons. Therefore, the still open question regarding stable hydromagnetic equilibria in barotropic fluids will become relevant for the evolution, at least for magnetar fields, which are likely too strong to be stabilized by the solid crust.

Magnetic fields (MF) can play an essential role in the evolution of the interstellar medium - especially at the early evolutionary stages. Small scale research related to the interaction of MF and pre-stellar condensations are unresolved issues. In quantitative terms, submissions about forming a full picture of gas-dust fragments evolution are far from complete, considering delay of their collapse caused by MF and the reverse effect of self-gravitating objects on the transformation of force lines and changing the values of local strength. The role of these interrelated processes is very important in the estimation of time of evolution of protostellar structures. In contrast to OH, in methanol molecule (most investigating at the moment) there is no unpaired electron, and the Zeeman splitting of the energy levels in CH3OH regards only the levels caused by the nuclear spin. Therefore, Zeeman spectrum in methanol is certainly not going to be as effective as in OH. However, since many methanol masers - Class I (MMI - formed at the earliest stage of the evolution of gas and dust condensations) and Class II (MMII - the area around very young stars and protoplanetary disks) - are associated with OH masers, then from spectra of OH masers the parameters of MF can be estimated, at least, near different methanol masers classes, i.e. in condensations which are at different evolutionary stages. This report presents the results of polarization observations 7 OH maser sources at the NRT (France). The main goal is comparing similarities and differences in MF strength and orientation in these masers, which essentially different according to the type of methanol masers associated with them, i.e. the evolutionary type.

Motivated by the problem of local solar subsurface magnetic structure, we have used numerical simulations to investigate the propagation of waves through monolithic magnetic flux tubes of different sizes. A cluster model can be a good approximation to simulate sunspots as well as solar plage regions which are composed of an ensemble of compactly packed thin flux tubes. Simulations of this type are powerful tools to probe the structure and the dynamics of various solar features which are directly related to solar magnetic field activity.

The business meeting of IAU Commission 36 took place during the GA in Beijing on August 27th, and its major topic was the re-structuring of the IAU Divisions and consequences for our Commission. The meeting was conducted by the new president, Joachim Puls, since the past president (still in charge during the GA), Martin Asplund, could not participate.

We present recent experiments using a Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm and the polarised radiative transfer code COSSAM to produce a new ZDM code. Currently the code is able to recover the magnetic parameters of model stars with either a decentred dipole morphology or a morphology consisting of a centred dipole and a quadrupole, while simultaneously calculating multiple chemical abundances (including a basic stratification model). The ZDM code has been tested using both synthetic spectra and real, well studied stars. Additional features are currently being added such as a multipole morphology of arbitrary order and more sophisticated chemical stratification models.

We explore the stability of extremely low-mass stars (M < 0.25 M⊙) across a wide range of composition, effective temperature, and luminosity. We identify the instability boundaries associated with radial oscillations. These are a strong function of both composition and radial order (0 ≤ n ≤ 13). The classical blue edge shifts to higher effective temperature and luminosity with decreasing hydrogen abundance. Higher-order modes are more easily excited, and small islands of instability develop. Short-period oscillations have been discovered in the low-mass pre-white dwarf component of the eclipsing binary J0247–25. If its envelope is depleted in hydrogen, J0247–25B is unstable to intermediate-order p modes. Driving is by the classical κ mechanism operating in the second helium ionization zone. The observed periods, temperature and luminosity of J0247–25B require an envelope hydrogen abundance 0.2 ≤ X ≤ 0.3.

Preliminary results on the analysis of the Kepler light curve and photometric ground-based time series of γ Dor star KIC 6462033 (TYC 3144-646-1, V = 10.83, P = 0.69686 d) are presented in order to determine pulsation frequencies.

Both pulsation and mass loss are commonly observed in stars and are important ingredients for understanding stellar evolution and structure, especially for massive stars. There is a growing body of evidence that pulsation can also drive and enhance mass loss in massive stars and that pulsation-driven mass loss is important for stellar evolution. In this review, I will discuss recent advances in understanding pulsation-driven mass loss in massive main-sequence stars, classical Cepheids and red supergiants and present some challenges remaining.

Stars with radiative envelopes, specifically the upper main sequence chemically peculiar (Ap) stars, were among the first objects outside our solar system for which surface magnetic fields have been detected. Currently magnetic Ap stars remains the only class of stars for which high-resolution measurements of both linear and circular polarization in individual spectral lines are feasible. Consequently, these stars provide unique opportunities to study the physics of polarized radiative transfer in stellar atmospheres, to analyze in detail stellar magnetic field topologies and their relation to starspots, and to test different methodologies of stellar magnetic field mapping. Here I present an overview of different approaches to modeling the surface fields in magnetic A- and B-type stars. In particular, I summarize the ongoing efforts to interpret high-resolution full Stokes vector spectra of these stars using magnetic Doppler imaging. These studies reveal an unexpected complexity of the magnetic field geometries in some Ap stars.

A search for new pulsating stars in the Coma Berenices open cluster was carried out. As a result of this search, the cluster member Melotte 111 AV 1224 presented clear indications of photometric variability. In order to determine its physical parameters, Strömgren standard indices and low-resolution spectra were acquired. In this work, we present the preliminary results of these observations.

The Sun is the archetype of magnetic star and its proximity coupled with very high accuracy observations has helped us understanding how solar-like stars (e.g with a convective envelope) redistribute angular momentum and generate a cyclic magnetic field. However most solar models have been so fine tuned that when they are applied to other solar-like stars the agreement with observations is not good enough. I will thus discuss, based on theoretical considerations and multi-D MHD stellar models, what can be considered as robust properties of solar-like star dynamics and magnetism and what is still speculative. I will derive scaling laws for differential rotation and magnetic energy as a function of stellar parameters, discuss recent results of stellar dynamo models and define the new concept of spot-dynamo, e.g. global dynamo that develops self-consistent magnetic buoyant structures that emerge at the surface.

Linkages between astronomy and physics have always been intimately close and mutually stimulating. Most often it was physics that served astronomy with its explanatory power. Today, however, we are increasingly witnessing the reverse: astrophysical considerations are being used to constrain new physics and moreover they are more efficient than laboratory experiments. This contribution reviews the ways helio- and white dwarf asteroseismology – branches in which Wojtek Dziembowski played a prominent role – are used for this purpose.