Title:
The interferometric diameter and internal structure of Sirius A
Authors:
Kervella, P.; Thévenin, F.; Morel, P.; Bordé, P.; Di Folco, E.
Affiliation:
AA(European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19001, Vitacura, Santiago 19, Chile), AB(Département Cassini, UMR CNRS 6529, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France), AC(Département Cassini, UMR CNRS 6529, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France), AD(LESIA, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France), AE(European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-str. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany)
Journal:
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.408, p.681-688 (2003) (A&A Homepage)
Publication Date:
09/2003
Origin:
A&A
A&A Keywords:
stars: individual: Sirius, stars: fundamental parameters, stars: evolution, techniques: interferometric
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 2003: Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bibliographic Code:
2003A&A...408..681K

Abstract

The interferometric observations of dwarf stars in the solar neighbourhood, combined with HIPPARCOS parallaxes provide very precise values of their linear diameters. In this paper, we report the direct measurement of the angular diameter of the bright star Sirius A with the VINCI/VLTI instrument. We obtain a uniform disk angular diameter of theta_UD = 5.936 +/- 0.016 mas in the K band and a limb darkened value of theta_LD = 6.039 +/- 0.019 mas. In combination with the HIPPARCOS parallax of 379.22 +/- 1.58 mas, this translates into a linear diameter of 1.711 +/- 0.013 Dsun. Using the VINCI/VLTI interferometric diameter and the published properties of Sirius A, we derive internal structure models corresponding to ages between 200 and 250 +/- 12 Myr. This range is defined mainly by the hypothesis on the mass of the star, the overshoot and the metallicity.