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Period Changes in RV Tauri Stars: Observations and Simulations

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John R. Percy

Alexandra Csatary

Ingrid Zorgdrager

Erindale Campus, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 1C6

Received: June 30, 1993

Abstract

We have determined the times and magnitudes of minimum brightness of two RV Tauri stars (SS Gem and V Vul) using data from the AAVSO and from the literature.  We have used these to construct (O-C) diagrams.  These are dominated by cyclic features with time scales ranging from several to several hundred pulsation periods.  By constructing simulated (O-C) diagrams, we have shown that the observed (O-C) diagrams could be explained by the accumulation of random, cycle-to-cycle fluctuations in period, as in the case of most Mira stars.