| RR Lyrae stars as seen by the Kepler space telescope |
| Emese Plachy |
|
Konkoly Observatory
Hungary |
| The unprecedented photometric precision along with the quasi-continuous sampling provided by the Kepler space telescope revealed new and unpredicted phenomena that reformed and invigorated RR Lyrae star research. The discovery of period doubling and the wealth of low-amplitude modes enlightened the complexity of the pulsation behavior and guided us towards nonlinear and nonradial studies. Searching and providing theoretical explanation for these newly found phenomena became a central question, as well as understanding their connection to the oldest enigma of RR Lyrae stars, the Blazhko effect. In this talk I summarize the highest impact RR Lyrae results based on or inspired by the data of the Kepler space telescope both from the nominal and the K2 missions. |