Nonlinear Beat Cepheid and RR Lyrae Models

Abstract

The numerical hydrodynamic modelling of beat Cepheid behavior has been a long standing quest in which purely radiative models had failed consistently. We find that beat pulsations occur naturally when {\it turbulent convection} is accounted for in our hydrodynamics code. The development of a relaxation code and of a Floquet stability analysis greatly facilitates the search for and the analysis of beat Cepheid models. The conditions for the occurrence of beat behavior can be understood easily and at a fundamental level with the help of amplitude equations.

8 pages, 5 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, submitted