ABSTRACT. We have used precise photometric and high-dispersion spectroscopic observations to study 11 γ Doradus stars, 10 of them newly confirmed. Only five of these 11 γ Doradus stars appear to be single; two are primaries of double-lined spectroscopic binaries, one is the secondary of a double-lined binary, two are primaries of visual binaries and, in the case of the double-lined binary (HD 86371), either or both components could be a pulsating γ Doradus star. We have determined a preliminary orbital period of 5.32 days for the double-lined binary HD 41547. Several of the stars show spectroscopic line-profile and low-amplitude radial velocity variability indicative of pulsation. All 11 stars are photometrically variable with amplitudes between 4 and 94 mmag in Johnson B and periods between 0.38 and 1.86 days. The 11 stars have between two and five independent periods. The variability at all periods approximates a sinusoid. We provide a new tabulation of all 66 γ Doradus stars confirmed to date and list some of their properties. All are dwarfs or subgiants and lie within a well-defined region of the H-R diagram that overlaps the cool edge of the δ Scuti instability strip. Four of the new γ Doradus variables from this paper also lie within the δ Scuti instability strip but do not exhibit the additional higher frequency variability typical of δ Scuti stars. Among the 66 confirmed γ Doradus variables, we find no correlation between the period of the strongest pulsation mode and the (B - V) color index, absolute magnitude, or luminosity.

Key words: stars: early-type; stars: fundamental parameters; stars: oscillations; stars: variables: other

Print publication: Issue 4 (2007 April)
Received 2006 November 17, accepted for publication 2006 November 30
Published 2007 February 28