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Horizontal Branch Evolution and RR Lyrae Star Pulsation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

Arthur N. Cox*
Affiliation:
Los Alamos Astrophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS B288 P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545USA

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For many years there has been a confrontation between stellar evolution and pulsation theories concerning the masses, luminosities, and compositions of the horizontal branch RR Lyrae variables. Masses obtained by Cox, Hodson & Clancy (CHC, 1983) were very low, but Kovacs (1985) and later Kovacs & Buchler (1988) suggested somewhat larger ones. Even later Simon & Cox (1991) verified CHC results, though still using the Los Alamos opacities. Petersen (1991, 1992) has also discussed this mass problem in some detail. The persistent discrepancy of 0.1 Mʘ or more between the evolution and pulsation masses was mostly ignored because neither theory could find any significant flaw in its analysis. Cox (1991), Kovacs, Buchler & Marom (1991), and Kovacs, Buchler, Marom, Iglesias & Rogers (1992) finally showed that larger double-mode pulsation masses, are consistent with evolution calculations to reproduce color-magnitude diagrams of globular clusters. Evolution tracks by many for years, especially the recent ones by Lee, Demarque & Zinn (1990), did require a much lower primordial helium abundance near the big bang value near Y = 0.23, and now this value, slightly enhanced by deep convection dredge-up in the earlier red giant stage, is also found to be appropriate for pulsation studies.

Type
II. Joint Discussions
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1995

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