Analysis of B and Be Star Populations of the Double Cluster h and chi Persei (2009)
Marsh, Amber N., McSwain, M. Virginia, Currie, Thayne
We present blue optical spectra of 92 members of h and chi Per obtained with the WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. From these spectra, several stellar parameters were measured for the...
Non-radial Pulsations in the Open Cluster NGC 3766 (2009)
Roettenbacher, Rachael M., Amouzou, Ernest C., McSwain, M. Virginia
Non-radial pulsations (NRPs) are a proposed mechanism for the formation of decretion disks around Be stars and are important tools to study the internal structure of stars. NGC 3766 has an unusually...
HD 69686: A Mysterious High Velocity B Star (2009)
Huang, Wenjin, Gies, Douglas R., McSwain, M. Virginia
We report on the discovery of a high velocity B star, HD 69686. We estimate its space velocity, distance, surface temperature, gravity, and age. With these data, we are able to reconstruct the...
Variability of Be Stars in Southern Open Clusters (2009)
McSwain, M. Virginia, Huang, Wenjin, Gies, Douglas R.
We recently discovered a large number of highly active Be stars in the open cluster NGC 3766, making it an excellent location to study the formation mechanism of Be star disks. To explore whether...
Research Science and Education: The NSF's Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (2009)
Norman, Dara, Agueros, Marcel, Brown, Timothy M., Browning, Matthew, Chakrabarti, Sukanya, Cobb, Bethany, ...
The NSF's Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (AAPF) is exceptional among the available postdoctoral awards in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The fellowship is one of the few that allows...
The Orbits of the Gamma-ray Binaries LS I +61 303 and LS 5039 (2009)
Aragona, Christina, McSwain, M. Virginia, Grundstrom, Erika D., Marsh, Amber N., Roettenbacher, Rachael M., Hessler, Katelyn M., ...
LS I +61 303 and LS 5039 are two of only a handful of known high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) that exhibit very high energy emission in the MeV-TeV range, and these "gamma-ray binaries" are of renewed...
Detection of Magnetic Massive Stars in the Open Cluster NGC 3766 (2008)
A growing number of observations indicate that magnetic fields are present among a small fraction of massive O- and B-type stars, yet the origin of these fields remains unclear. Here we present the...
Detection of a Hot Subdwarf Companion to the Be Star FY Canis Majoris (2008)
Peters, Geraldine J., Gies, Douglas R., Grundstrom, Erika D., McSwain, M. Virginia
The rapid rotation of Be stars may be caused in some cases by past mass and angular momentum accretion in an interacting binary in which the mass donor is currently viewed as a small, hot subdwarf...
The B and Be star population of NGC 3766 (2008)
McSwain, M. Virginia, Huang, Wenjin, Gies, Douglas R., Grundstrom, Erika D., Townsend, Richard H.D.
We present multiple epochs of Hα spectroscopy for 47 members of the open cluster NGC 3766 to investigate the long-term variability of its Be stars. Sixteen of the stars in this sample are Be stars,...
The B and Be Star Population of NGC 3766 (2007)
McSwain, M. Virginia, Huang, Wenjin, Gies, Douglas R., Grundstrom, Erika D., Townsend, Richard H. D.
We present multiple epochs of H-alpha spectroscopy for 47 members of the open cluster NGC 3766 to investigate the long term variability of its Be stars. Sixteen of the stars in this sample are Be...
Runaway Massive Binaries and Cluster Ejection Scenarios (2006)
McSwain, M. Virginia, Ransom, Scott M., Boyajian, Tabetha S., Grundstrom, Erika D., Roberts, Mallory S. E.
The production of runaway massive binaries offers key insights into the evolution of close binary stars and open clusters. The stars HD 14633 and HD 15137 are rare examples of such runaway systems,...
A Spectroscopic Study of Field and Runaway OB Stars (2006)
McSwain, M. Virginia, Boyajian, Tabetha S., Grundstrom, Erika D., Gies, Douglas R.
Identifying binaries among runaway O- and B-type stars offers valuable insight into the evolution of open clusters and close binary stars. Here we present a spectroscopic investigation of 12 known or...
NGC 6791: An exotic open cluster or the nucleus of a tidally disrupted galaxy? (2006)
Carraro, Giovanni, Villanova, Sandro, Demarque, Pierre, McSwain, M. Virginia, Piotto, Giampaolo, Bedin, Luigi R.
We report on high-resolution echelle spectroscopy of 20 giant stars in the Galactic old open cluster NGC 6791, obtained with Hydra at the WIYN telescope. High-precision radial velocity allows us to...
NGC 6791: an exotic open cluster or the nucleus of a tidally disrupted galaxy? (2005)
Carraro, Giovanni, Villanova, Sandro, Demarque, Pierre, McSwain, M. Virginia, Piotto, Giampaolo, Bedin, Luigi R.
We report on high resolution Echelle spectroscopy of 20 giant stars in the Galactic old open clusters NGC 6791 obtained with Hydra at the WIYN telescope. High precision radial velocity allow us to...
Binary and Multiple O-Type Stars in the Cas OB6 Association (2005)
Hillwig, Todd C., Gies, Douglas R., Bagnuolo, William G., Huang, Wenjin, McSwain, M. Virginia, ...
We present the results of time-resolved spectroscopy of 13 O-type stars in the Cas OB6 stellar association. We conducted a survey for radial velocity variability in search of binary systems, which...
McSwain, M. Virginia, Gies, Douglas R.
Be stars are a class of rapidly rotating B stars with circumstellar disks that cause Balmer and other line emission. There are three possible reasons for the rapid rotation of Be stars: they may have...
A Photometric Technique to Search for Be Stars in Open Clusters (2004)
McSwain, M. Virginia, Gies, Douglas R.
We describe a technique to identify Be stars in open clusters using Stromgren b, y, and narrow-band Halpha photometry. We first identify the B-type stars of the cluster using a theoretical isochrone...
The evolution of massive stars : the Be star and microquasar phenomena / (2004)
McSwain, M. Virginia (Mary Virginia)
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2004.
The evolution of massive stars : the Be star and microquasar phenomena / (2004)
McSwain, M. Virginia (Mary Virginia)
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgia State University, 2004.