On the Photometric Variability of Very Sharp-lined Cool mCP Stars

We investigate the photometric variability of very sharp-lined cool mCP stars from a list published in 1970 by Dr. George W. Preston who suggested that some belonged to the long-period tail of the period distribution. In this study, we discuss our Strömgren uvby observations obtained with the Four College Automated Photometric Telescope (FCAPT) at the Fairborn Observatory for 22 of the stars in Preston’s list. We improved the periods of 11 stars. Further, we discuss results from the literature concerning the light, magnetic, and spectrum variability of these stars. Eleven of the stars are found to have periods longer than 20 days, and all but one of these stars display variations in the u and v filters that cannot be explained by the simple oblique rotator theory. We discuss some possible causes of this behavior.