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We present an extensive catalogue of BY Draconis (BY Dra)-type variables and their stellar parameters. BY Dra are main-sequence FGKM-type stars. They exhibit inhomogeneous starspots and bright faculae in their photospheres. These features are caused by stellar magnetic fields, which are carried along with the stellar disc through rotation and which produce gradual modulations in their light curves (LCs). Our main objective is to characterize the properties of BY Dra variables over a wide range of stellar masses, temperatures, and rotation periods. A recent study categorized 84 697 BY Dra variables from Data Release 2 of the Zwicky Transient Facility based on their LCs. We have collected additional photometric data from multiple surveys and performed broad-band spectral energy distribution fits to estimate stellar parameters. We found that more than half of our sample objects are of K spectral type, covering an extensive range of stellar parameters in the low-mass regime (0.1–1.3 M⊙). Compared with previous studies, most of the sources in our catalogue are rapid rotators, and so most of them must be young stars for which a spin-down has not yet occurred. We subdivided our catalogue based on convection zone depth and found that the photospheric activity index, Sph, is lower for higher effective temperatures, i.e. for thinner convective envelopes. We observe a broad range of photospheric magnetic activity for different spectral classes owing to the presence of stellar populations of different ages. We found a higher magnetically active fraction for K- than M-type stars.

 

Post-asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are exquisite probes of AGB nucleosynthesis. However, the previous lack of accurate distances jeopardized comparison with theoretical AGB models. The Gaia Early Data Release 3 (Gaia EDR3) has now allowed for a breakthrough in this research landscape. In this study, we focus on a sample of single Galactic post-AGBs for which chemical abundance studies were completed. We combined photometry with geometric distances to carry out a spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis and derive accurate luminosities. We subsequently determined their positions on the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram and compared this with theoretical post-AGB evolutionary tracks. While most objects are in the post-AGB phase of evolution, we found a subset of low-luminosity objects that are likely to be in the post-horizontal branch phase of evolution, similar to AGB-manqué objects found in globular clusters. Additionally, we also investigated the observed bimodality in thes-process enrichment of Galactic post-AGB single stars of similarT_effand metallicities. This bimodality was expected to be a direct consequence of luminosity with thes-process rich objects having evolved further on the AGB. However, we find that the two populations, thes-process enriched and non-enriched, have similar luminosities (and hence initial masses), revealing an intriguing chemical diversity. For a given initial mass and metallicity, AGB nucleosynthesis appears inhomogeneous and sensitive to other factors, which could be mass loss, along with convective and non-convective mixing mechanisms. Modeling individual objects in detail will be needed to investigate which parameters and processes dominate the photospheric chemical enrichment in these stars.

 

ABSTRACT Current models predict that binary interactions are a major ingredient in the formation of bipolar planetary nebulae (PNe) and pre-planetary nebulae (PPNe). Despite years of radial velocity (RV) monitoring, the paucity of known binaries amongst the latter systems means data are insufficient to examine this relationship in detail. In this work, we report on the discovery of a long-period (P = 2654 ± 124 d) binary at the centre of the Galactic bipolar PPN IRAS 08005−2356 (V510 Pup), determined from long-term spectroscopic and near-infrared time-series data. The spectroscopic orbit is fitted with an eccentricity of 0.36 ± 0.05, which is similar to that of other long-period post-AGB binaries. Time-resolved Hα profiles reveal high-velocity outflows (jets) with deprojected velocities up to 231$_{-27}^{+31}$ km s−1 seen at phases when the luminous primary is behind the jet. The outflow traced by Hα is likely produced via accretion on to a main-sequence companion, for which we calculate a mass of 0.63 ± 0.13 M⊙. This discovery is one of the first cases of a confirmed binary PPN and demonstrates the importance of high-resolution spectroscopic monitoring surveys using large telescopes in revealing binarity among these systems.