The Delta Scuti star FG Vir. IV. Mode identifications and pulsation modelling

Abstract

This paper examines the mode identification and presents pulsation models for FG Vir, for which 24 frequencies have been detected. Histograms of the frequency spacings show peaks which are identified with adjacent radial orders and rotational splitting. Pulsational $\ell$ values are deduced for eight modes by comparing the observed photometric phase lags between $v$ and $y$ variations with calculated values. The dominant pulsation mode at 12.72 c/d can be identified with $\ell$ = 1, while the 12.15 c/d mode is the radial fundamental. These results are in agreement with identifications published by Viskum et al. (1998). Based on the observational mode identifications and the Hipparcos distance, new models were computed with the constraint that the mode at 12.15 c/d is the radial fundamental mode. It is shown that with standard opacities, models in the appropriate T_eff, log L and log g ranges cannot reproduce the identification in the literature of 23.40 c/d as the third radial overtone. However, we show that observationally an $\ell$ = 1 (rather than radial) identification is equally probable. A large number of pulsation models were computed for FG Vir. A comparison between the observed frequencies and mode identifications and pulsation models leads to a mean density of <rho>/<rho_sun> = 0.156 +- 0.002 depending on the opacity and chemical composition choice and on the possible overshooting from the convective core. The models also correctly predict the observed region of instability between 9 and 34 c/d. The effect of rotational coupling on the pulsation frequencies is estimated.