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| Paper: |
Pulsation of λ Bootis stars: who wants to be a (non-)millionnaire interested in diffusion theories? |
| Volume: |
256, Observational Aspects of Pulsating B and A Stars |
| Page: |
287 |
| Authors: |
Matthews, Jaymie M. |
| Abstract: |
The lambda Bootis stars are globally 'normal' A-F stars which show abundance peculiarities for which two mechanisms have been mainly considered: diffusion combined with mass loss, and diffusion confined with accretion from the interstellar medium. The first theory implies ages for lambda Boo stars of at least 10^9 years, while the second cannot be effective if these objects are older than a few times 10^6 years. Preliminary photometric and spectroscopic variability surveys indicate that delta-Scuti-like pulsation occurs among about half of the lambda Boo class. The multiperiodic pulsators offer the prospect of applying asteroseismology to settle the age/origin debate. However, progress has been slow for the same reasons that confront attempts to model delta Scuti stars based on their eigenspectra. This frustration parallels that felt by many of us in our careers as poor astrophysicists, so I have incorporated into this paper a popular TV game show format to allow the reader to actively explore the problems while reading the Proceedings. |
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