Related papers: Multiperiodicity, modulations and flip-flops in va…
We propose a new information theoretic metric for finding periodicities in stellar light curves. Light curves are astronomical time series of brightness over time, and are characterized as being noisy and unevenly sampled. The proposed…
The observed light curves of most eclipsing binaries and stars with transiting planets can be well described and interpreted by current advanced physical models which also allow for the determination of many physical parameters of eclipsing…
We present radiation transfer models of rotating young stellar objects (YSOs) with hotspots in their atmospheres, inner disk warps and other 3-D effects in the nearby circumstellar environment. Our models are based on the geometry expected…
One of the main features of interest in analysing the light curves of stars is the underlying periodic behaviour. The corresponding observations are a complex type of time series with unequally spaced time points and are sometimes…
The field of visible-light continuous time series photometry is now at its golden age, manifested by the continuum of past (CoRoT, Kepler), present (K2), and future (TESS, PLATO) space-based surveys delivering high precision data with a…
CoRoT has allowed a quantitative leap for the solar-like-star seismology thanks to 5-month-long uninterrupted timeseries of high-precision photometric data. Kepler is also starting to deliver similar data. Now, several F and G main-sequence…
We present the use of continuous-time autoregressive moving average (CARMA) models as a method for estimating the variability features of a light curve, and in particular its power spectral density (PSD). CARMA models fully account for…
We calculate light curves produced by a hot spot of a rapidly rotating neutron star, assuming that the spot is perturbed by a core $r$-mode, which is destabilized by emitting gravitational waves. To calculate light curves, we take account…
The first step when investigating time varying data is the detection of any reliable changes in star brightness. This step is crucial to decreasing the processing time by reducing the number of sources processed in later, slower steps.…
The amplitude and phase modulation observed in a significant fraction of the RR Lyrae variables - the Blazhko effect - represents a long-standing enigma in stellar pulsation theory. No satisfactory explanation for the Blazhko effect has…
Context. We present a model-free method for mapping surface brightness variations. Aims. We aim to develop a method that is not dependent on either stellar atmosphere models or limb-darkening equation. This method is optimized for exoplanet…
The observations of the photometric space telescopes CoRoT and Kepler show numerous Blazhko RR Lyrae stars which have non-repetitive modulation cycles. The phenomenon can be explained by multi-periodic, stochastic or chaotic processes. From…
In order to benefit from the 4-year unprecedented precision of the Kepler data, we extracted light curves from the pixel photometric data of the Kepler space telescope for 15 Blazhko RR Lyrae stars. For collecting all the flux from a given…
Conventional techniques that measure rapid time variations are inefficient or inadequate to discover and observe rapidly pulsating astronomical sources. It is therefore conceivable that there exist some classes of objects pulsating with…
Light curves of solar-like stars are known to show highly irregular variability. As a consequence, standard frequency analysis methods often fail to detect the correct rotation period. Recently, Shapiro et al. (2020) showed that the periods…
For seven decades, the widely held view has been that the formation, the migration and the decay of short-lived starspots explain the constantly changing light curves of chromospherically active stars. Our hypothesis is that these deceptive…
I discuss some practical aspects of the analysis of millisecond time variability X-ray data obtained from accreting neutron stars and black holes. First I give an account of the statistical methods that are at present commonly applied in…
We present a detailed period analysis for 93 red semiregular variables by means of Fourier and wavelet analyses of long-term visual observations carried out by amateur astronomers. The results of this analysis yield insights into the mode…
Microvariability consists in small time scale variations of low amplitude in the photometric light curves of quasars, and represents an important tool to investigate their inner core. Detection of quasar microvariations is challenging for…
FK Comae is a rapidly rotating magnetically active star, the light curve of which is modulated by cool spots on its surface. It was the first star where the "flip-flop" phenomenon was discovered. Since then, flip-flops in the spot activity…