Effects of environmental changes on marsh vegetation with special reference to salinity

A literature survey primarily concerned with brackish and salt marshes located along the eastern coast of North America and the Gulf Coast was presented. The review concentrated upon the vegetation of the marshes, particularly in regard to distribution, composition, succession, and productivity. Special efforts were made to include major works concerned with the Louisiana and Mississipi coastal marshes. It appears that spring to early summer (weeks 18-34 of the year; April - mid-July) is the best period of time to categorize the communities. It is during this time of the year that the communities appear most stable in regard to species composition. This allows a strong correlation to be drawn between the salinity of the region and the dominant species of the community. As such, this would seem to be best period in which to sample the marsh via air or land for differences in vegetation and salinity

Synthesis of the Beryllium 3131A Spectral Region

The Beryllium spectral region of the Sun, Procyon and 4 stars in the open cluster NGC6633 up to Teff = 7500K have been synthesised using ATLAS9 model atmospheres and the MOOG spectral synthesis program. The line list used for these syntheses has been modified from the ATLAS9 line list to improve the quality of the fits in light of the improved opacities in the new version of the MOOG code. Significant changes have been made to the Mn I line at ATLAS9 wavelength 3131.037A and an OH line has been added at 3131.358A. In addition there are a number of minor changes to gf-values throughout the synthesised region thus improving the fit for the spectra across the temperature range considerably.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the Workshop "ATLAS 12 and related codes", Trieste, July 11-15, 200

Absolute dimensions of detached eclipsing binaries. III. The metallic-lined system YZ Cassiopeiae

The bright binary system YZ Cassiopeiae is a remarkable laboratory for studying the Am phenomenon. It consists of a metallic-lined A2 star and an F2 dwarf on a circular orbit, which undergo total and annular eclipses. We present an analysis of 15 published light curves and 42 new high-quality echelle spectra, resulting in measurements of the masses, radii, effective temperatures and photospheric chemical abundances of the two stars. The masses and radii are measured to 0.5% precision: M_A = 2.263 +/- 0.012 Msun, M_B = 1.325 +/- 0.007 Msun, R_A = 2.525 +/- 0.011 Rsun and R_B = 1.331 +/- 0.006 Rsun. We determine the abundance of 20 elements for the primary star, of which all except scandium are super-solar by up to 1 dex. The temperature of this star (9520 +/- 120 K) makes it one of the hottest Am stars. We also measure the abundances of 25 elements for its companion (Teff = 6880 +/- 240 K), finding all to be solar or slightly above solar. The photospheric abundances of the secondary star should be representative of the bulk composition of both stars. Theoretical stellar evolutionary models are unable to match these properties: the masses, radii and temperatures imply a half-solar chemical composition (Z = 0.009 +/- 0.003) and an age of 490-550 Myr. YZ Cas therefore presents a challenge to stellar evolutionary theory.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 15 pages, 9 tables, 7 figure

The Habitable Zone Gallery

The Habitable Zone Gallery (www.hzgallery.org) is a new service to the exoplanet community which provides Habitable Zone (HZ) information for each of the exoplanetary systems with known planetary orbital parameters. The service includes a sortable table with information on the percentage of orbital phase spent within the HZ, planetary effective temperatures, and other basic planetary properties. In addition to the table, we also plot the period and eccentricity of the planets with respect to their time spent in the HZ. The service includes a gallery of known systems which plot the orbits and the location of the HZ with respect to those orbits. Also provided are animations which aid in orbit visualization and provide the changing effective temperature for those planets in eccentric orbits. Here we describe the science motivation, the under-lying calculations, and the structure of the web site.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

SuperWASP observations of pulsating Am stars

We have studied over 1600 Am stars at a photometric precision of 1 mmag with SuperWASP photometric data. Contrary to previous belief, we find that around 200 Am stars are pulsating δ Sct and γ Dor stars, with low amplitudes that have been missed in previous, less extensive studies. While the amplitudes are generally low, the presence of pulsation in Am stars places a strong constraint on atmospheric convection, and may require the pulsation to be laminar. While some pulsating Am stars have been previously found to be δ Sct stars, the vast majority of Am stars known to pulsate are presented in this paper. They will form the basis of future statistical studies of pulsation in the presence of atomic diffusion

Absolute dimensions of detached eclipsing binaries. I. The metallic-lined system WW Aurigae

WW Aurigae is a detached eclipsing binary composed of two metallic-lined A-type stars orbiting each other every 2.5 days. We have determined the masses and radii of both components to accuracies of 0.4 and 0.6 percent, respectively. From a cross-correlation analysis of high-resolution spectra we find masses of 1.964 +/- 0.007 Msun for the primary star and 1.814 +/- 0.007 Msun for the secondary star. From an analysis of photoelectric uvby and UBV light curves we find the radii of the stars to be 1.927 +/- 0.011 Rsun and 1.841 +/- 0.011 Rsun, where the uncertainties have been calculated using a Monte Carlo algorithm. Fundamental effective temperatures of the two stars have been derived, using the Hipparcos parallax of WW Aur and published ultraviolet, optical and infrared fluxes, and are 7960 +/- 420 and 7670 +/- 410 K. The masses, radii and effective temperatures of WW Aur are only matched by theoretical evolutionary models for a fractional initial metal abundance, Z, of approximately 0.06 and an age of roughly 90 Myr. This seems to be the highest metal abundance inferred for a well-studied detached eclipsing binary, but we find no evidence that it is related to the metallic-lined nature of the stars. The circular orbit of WW Aur is in conflict with the circularization timescales of both the Tassoul and the Zahn tidal theories and we suggest that this is due to pre-main-sequence evolution or the presence of a circular orbit when the stars were formed.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (14 pages, 8 figures). Photometric data will be made available at the CDS once the final version appear

Eclipsing binaries in open clusters

Accurate physical parameters have been determined for two early-type detached eclipsing binaries in the open cluster h Persei (NGC 869). Masses accurate to 1.5% are derived from high-resolution spectroscopy and radii accurate to 4--6% have been obtained from fitting the existing light curves. The four stars are placed in the mass radius plane and compared to the theoretical stellar models of the Granada Group. The best-fitting models have a low metallicity of approximately Z=0.01 and a high helium abundance of Y=0.34. This is the first determination of the bulk metallicity of the Perseus Double Cluster. Recent studies have assumed a solar metallicity so their results should be reviewed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Spectroscopically and Spatially Resolving the Components of Close Binary Stars, ASP Conf. Series, 200

The mass and radius of the M-dwarf in the short period eclipsing binary RR Caeli

We present new photometry and spectroscopy of the eclipsing white dwarf - M-dwarf binary star RR Cae. We use timings of the primary eclipse from white-light photo-electric photometry to derive a new ephemeris for the eclipses. We find no evidence for any period change greater than Pdot/P ~ 5E-12 over a timescale of 10 years. We have measured the effective temperature of the white dwarf, T_WD, from an analysis of two high resolution spectra of RR Cae and find T_WD = (7540 +- 175)K. We estimate a spectral type of M4 for the companion from the same spectra. We have combined new spectroscopic orbits for the white dwarf and M-dwarf with an analysis of the primary eclipse and cooling models for helium white dwarfs to measure the mass and radius of the M-dwarf. The mass of the M-dwarf is (0.182 - 0.183) +- 0.013 Msun and the radius is (0.203 - 0.215) +- 0.013 Rsun, where the ranges quoted for these values reflect the range of white dwarf models used. In contrast to previous studies, which lacked a spectroscopic orbit for the white dwarf, we find that the mass and radius of the M-dwarf are normal for an M4 dwarf. The mass of the white dwarf is (0.440 +-0.022) Msun. With these revised masses and radii we find that RR Cae will become a cataclysmic variable star when the orbital period is reduced from its current value of 7.3 hours to 121 minutes by magnetic braking in 9-20 Gyr. We note that there is night-to-night variability of a few seconds in the timing of primary eclipse caused by changes to the shape of the primary eclipse. We speculate as to the possible causes of this phenomenon. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. The paper contains 10 figures and 3 table

WASP-1: A lithium- and metal-rich star with an oversized planet

In this paper we present our results of a comprehensive spectroscopicanalysis of WASP-1, the host star to the exoplanet WASP-1b. We derive T_eff = 6110 +/- 45 K, log g = 4.28 +/- 0.15, and [M/H] = 0.23 +/- 0.08, and also a high abundance of lithium, log n(Li) = 2.91 +/- 0.05. These parameters suggests an age for the system of 1-3 Gyr and a stellar mass of 1.25-1.35 M_sun. This means that WASP-1 has properties very similar to those of HD 149026, the host star for the highest density planet yet detected. Moreover, their planets orbit at comparable distances and receive comparable irradiating fluxes from their host stars. However, despite the similarity of WASP-1 with HD 149026, their planets have strongly different densities. This suggests that gas-giant planet density is not a simple function of host-star metallicity or of radiation environment at ages of ~2 Gyr.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 6 pages, 4 figure