a Search for the Helium Companion of Phi Persei

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Hst Proposal Id #6046 Hot Stars

Scientific paper

Mass transfer during the evolution of intermediate-mass stars in a close binary system can result in a rejuvenated and spun- up secondary star which can appear as a rapidly rotating Be star. Models suggest that many bright Be stars may be binaries with unseen, stripped-down, helium star companions. The best candidate for such a system is Phi Per, a binary with a period of 127 days. Poeckert (1981) found evidence of hot circumstellar gas surrounding the secondary and used the associated velocity curve to derive masses for both stars. We have recently used the Doppler tomography algorithm with IUE high dispersion spectra to reconstruct the individual spectra, and we find a weak secondary spectrum that resembles that of a hot subdwarf. We propose to obtain high S/N ratio spectra of Phi Per with the GHRS at two orbital phases with large relative Doppler shifts of the secondary's spectrum. These spectra will allow us to measure directly the secondary's weak spectral lines in the composite spectrum, which in turn will provide the UV intensity ratio, secondary projected rotational velocity, and a more secure secondary radial velocity curve. By combining results from both spectra, we can reconstruct a high S/N spectrum of the secondary star alone, which will help determine the temperature, gravity, and chemical abundance of the companion. This will provide fundamental data on the nature of the stripped-down companion, in the first detection of a binary that fills the evolutionary gap between systems of

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