Related papers: Evolutionary changes in the periods of galactic RR…
The theory of stellar evolution can be more closely tested if we have the opportunity to measure new quantities. Nowadays, observations of galactic RR Lyr stars are available on a time baseline exceeding 100 years. Therefore, we can exploit…
The times of maximum brightness collected in the GEOS RR Lyr database allowed us to trace the period variations of a sample of 123 galactic RRab variables. These data span a time baseline exceeding 100 years. Clear evidence of period…
A century of observations of omega Centauri allows us to accurately follow the period changes of a large sample of variable stars. Although the period changes are composed of monotone and irregular changes, period increases dominate in most…
The history of the observations of RR Lyr variables started in the XIXth century, more than 120 years ago. The very long time baseline of available data combined with the short period of RR Lyrae variables offer an unique opportunity to…
We describe a study of period changes in 59 RR Lyrae stars, using times of maximum brightness from the GEOS database. The work was carried out by outstanding senior high school students in the University of Toronto Mentorship Program. This…
The grid of evolutionary tracks of population II stars with initial masses from $0.81M_\odot$ to $0.85M_\odot$ and chemical composition of the globular cluster M 3 is computed. Selected models of horizontal branch stars were used as initial…
Mira variables, RR Lyrae variables, and type II Cepheids all represent evolved states of low-mass stars, and long term observations have revealed that changes in pulsation period occur for each of these classes of variable. Most Mira…
Galaxy evolution during the last 9 Gyr is discussed. It can be traced back from well known present-day galaxies or directly observed for galaxies at different look back times. This requires clear and consistently matched selection criteria…
Based on photometric data obtained between 1935 and 2017, $O-C$ diagrams were built for 22 RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster NGC 6171, leading to the discovery of secular period changes in 4 variables for which we have calculated their…
We present period change rates (dP/dt) for 42 RR Lyrae variables in the globular cluster IC$\,$4499. Despite clear evidence of these period increases or decreases, the observed period change rates are an order of magnitude larger than…
The many peculiarities of Ap stars (not only chemical ones, but also magnetic field and slow rotation) may vary during the main-sequence evolution of these stars. We review here briefly the evidences found in the last thirty years for such…
We present the results of our new study of known RR Lyrae variable stars. All observations available for these stars in the Catalina Surveys were analyzed, and double-mode variations were identified. We studied the Petersen diagram and…
We investigate the period changes of 13 short-period Type II Cepheids using the O-C method over a century-long data baseline. The O-C diagrams for these stars exhibit a parabolic trend, indicating both increasing and decreasing period…
After a brief review of the observational evidences indicating how the populations of Be stars, red/blue supergiants, Wolf-Rayet stars vary as a function of metallicity, we discuss the implications of these observed trend for our…
Observations of Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud, made over the last several decades, allow us to search for evolutionary period changes. None of the Cepheid from our sample of 378 stars stopped pulsating. Also none of them showed a…
We show that tagging RR Lyrae stars according to their location in the period-amplitude diagram can be used to shed light on the genesis of the Galactic stellar halo. The mixture of RR Lyrae of ab type, separated into classes along the…
Secular period variations, $\beta=\dot{P}$, in 76 RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster M5 are analysed using our most recent CCD $V$ photometry and the historical photometric database available in the literature since 1889. This provides…
We review ways in which observations of the changing periods of pulsating variable stars can be used to detect and directly measure their evolution. We briefly describe the two main techniques of analysis -- (O-C) analysis and wavelet…
Double-mode RR Lyr type stars are important for studies of properties of horizontal-branch stars. In particular, two periods coupled with spectral properties give a mass estimate that is independent of evolutionary models. Here, we present…
The study of RR Lyrae stars has recently been invigorated thanks to the long, uninterrupted, ultra-precise time series data provided by the Kepler and CoRoT space telescopes. We give a brief overview of the new observational findings…