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Using the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer, we measured the angular diameters of 10 stars that have previously measured solar-like oscillations. Our sample covered a range of evolutionary stages but focused on evolved subgiant and giant stars. We combined our angular diameters with Hipparcos parallaxes to determine the stars' physical radii, and used photometry from the literature to calculate their bolometric fluxes, luminosities, and effective temperatures. We then used our results to test the scaling relations used by asteroseismology groups to calculate radii and found good agreement between the radii measured here and the radii predicted by stellar oscillation studies. The precision of the relations is not as well constrained for giant stars as it is for less evolved stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

4C+37.11, at z = 0.055, shows two compact radio nuclei, imaged by very long baseline interferometry at 7 mas separation, making it the closest known resolved supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB). An important question is whether this unique object is young and was caught on the way to a gravitational in-spiral and merger, or has “stalled” at 7 pc. We describe new radio/optical/X-ray observations of the massive host and its surrounding X-ray halo. These data reveal X-ray/optical channels following the radio outflow and large scale edges in the X-ray halo. These structures are promising targets for further study which should elucidate their relationship to the unique SMBHB core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fraction of very low mass stars and brown dwarfs are known to be radio active, in some cases producing periodic pulses. Extensive studies of two such objects have also revealed optical periodic variability, and the nature of this variability remains unclear. Here, we report on multi-epoch optical photometric monitoring of six radio-detected dwarfs, spanning the ∼M8-L3.5 spectral range, conducted to investigate the ubiquity of periodic optical variability in radio-detected ultracool dwarfs. This survey is the most sensitive ground-based study carried out to date in search of periodic optical variability from late-type dwarfs, where we obtained 250 hr of monitoring, delivering photometric precision as low as ∼0.15%. Five of the six targets exhibit clear periodicity, in all cases likely associated with the rotation period of the dwarf, with a marginal detection found for the sixth. Our data points to a likely association between radio and optical periodic variability in late-M/early-L dwarfs, although the underlying physical cause of this correlation remains unclear. In one case, we have multiple epochs of monitoring of the archetype of pulsing radio dwarfs, the M9 TVLM 513–46546, spanning a period of 5 yr, which is sufficiently stable in phase to allow us to establish a period of 1.95958 ± 0.00005 hr. This phase stability may be associated with a large-scale stable magnetic field, further strengthening the correlation between radio activity and periodic optical variability. Finally, we find a tentative spin-orbit alignment of one component of the very low mass binary, LP 349–25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Binary post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) stars are interesting laboratories to study both the evolution of binaries as well as the structure of circumstellar disks. Aims. A multiwavelength high angular resolution study of the prototypical object 89 Herculis is performed with the aim of identifying and locating the different emission components seen in the spectral energy distribution. Methods. A large interferometric data set, collected over the past decade and covering optical and near-infrared wavelengths, is analyzed in combination with the spectral energy distribution and flux-calibrated optical spectra. In this first paper only simple geometric models are applied to fit the interferometric data. Combining the interferometric constraints with the photometry and the optical spectra, we re-assess the energy budget of the post-AGB star and its circumstellar environment. Results. We report the first (direct) detection of a large (35-40%) optical circumstellar flux contribution and spatially resolve its emission region. Given this large amount of reprocessed and/or redistributed optical light, the fitted size of the emission region is rather compact and fits with(in) the inner rim of the circumbinary dust disk. This rim dominates our K band data through thermal emission and is rather compact, emitting significantly already at a radius of twice the orbital separation. We interpret the circumstellar optical flux as due to a scattering process, with the scatterers located in the extremely puffed-up inner rim of the disk and possibly also in a bipolar outflow seen pole-on. A non-local thermodynamic equilibrium gaseous origin in an inner disk cannot be excluded but is considered highly unlikely. Conclusions. This direct detection of a significant amount of circumbinary light at optical wavelengths poses several significant questions regarding our understanding of both post-AGB binaries and the physics in their circumbinary disks. Although the identification of the source of emission/scattering remains inconclusive without further study on this and similar objects, the implications are manifold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the discovery of a supermassive binary black-hole (SBBH) system in the radio galaxy 0402+379, with a projected separation between the two black holes of just 7.3 pc. This is the most compact SBBH pair yet imaged by more than two orders of magnitude. These results are based upon multi-frequency imaging using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) which reveal two compact, variable, flat-spectrum, active nuclei within the elliptical host galaxy of 0402+379. Multi-epoch observations from the VLBA also provide constraints on the total mass and dynamics of the system. The two nuclei appear stationary while the jets emanating from the weaker of the two nuclei appear to move out and terminate in bright hot spots. The discovery of this system has implications for the number of compact binary black holes that might be sources of gravitational radiation. The VLBI Imaging and Polarimetry Survey (VIPS) currently underway should discover several more SBBHs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The highly eccentric Be binary system δ Sco reached periastron during early 2011 July, when the distance between the primary and secondary was a few times the size of the primary disk in the H band. This opened a window of opportunity to study how the gaseous disks around Be stars respond to gravitational disturbance. We first refine the binary parameters with the best orbital phase coverage data from the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer. Then we present the first imaging results of the disk after the periastron, based on seven nights of five telescope observations with the MIRC combiner at the CHARA array. We found that the disk was inclined 27.°6 ± 6.°0 from the plane of the sky, had a half-light radius of 0.49 mas (2.2 stellar radii), and consistently contributed 71.4% ± 2.7% of the total flux in the H band from night to night, suggesting no ongoing transfer of material into the disk during the periastron. The new estimation of the periastron passage is UT 2011 July 3 07:00 ± 4:30. Re-analysis of archival VLTI-AMBER interferometry data allowed us to determine the rotation direction of the primary disk, constraining it to be inclined either ∼119° or ∼171° relative to the orbital plane of the binary system. We also detect inner disk asymmetries that could be explained by spot-like emission with a few percent of the disk total flux moving in Keplerian orbits, although we lack sufficient angular resolution to be sure of this interpretation and cannot yet rule out spiral density waves or other more complicated geometries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new orbital measurements of the pre-main-sequence triple system, V807 Tau, using adaptive optics imaging at the Keck Observatory. We computed an orbit for the close pair, V807 Tau Ba–Bb, with a period of 12.312 ± 0.058 years and a semi-major axis of 38.59 ± 0.16 mas. By modeling the center of mass motion of the components in the close pair relative to the wide component, V807 Tau A, we measured a mass ratio of 0.843 ± 0.050 for Bb/Ba. Combined with the total mass from the relative orbit, we derived individual masses of MBa = 0.564 ± 0.018 (d/140 pc)3M☼ and MBb = 0.476 ± 0.017 (d/140 pc)3M☼ at an average distance of 140 pc to the Taurus star-forming region. We computed spectral energy distributions to determine the luminosities of the three components. We also measured their spectral types, effective temperatures, and rotational velocities based on spatially resolved spectra obtained at the Keck Observatory. If the rotational axes are aligned, then the projected rotational velocities imply that V807 Tau Ba and Bb are rotating much faster than V807 Tau A. The uncertainty in the stellar effective temperatures and distance to the system currently limit the comparison of our dynamical mass measurements with predictions based on evolutionary tracks for pre-main-sequence stars. We also report preliminary results from a program to map the 3.6 cm radio emission from V807 Tau using the Very Long Baseline Array. With continued monitoring, these observations will provide a precise parallax for placing the dynamical masses on an absolute scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]