Monitoring the Polarimetric Variability of δ Scorpii

Abstract

The Be star δ Scorpii is an interesting binary system, whose primary companion created a circumstellar disk after the periastron passage of the secondary in 2000, being since then classified as Be. This work presents the results of a long-term monitoring of this star in broad-band imaging polarimetry. The observational data collected since 2006 in the Pico dos Dias Observatory (Brazil) show a variable polarization that seems to correlate with the photometric light curve. From this data we see that the disk density varied since 2006; furthermore, the data suggests that there was some disturbance of the disk during the last periastron passage in July, 2011.

4 pages; Proceedings of the Circumstellar Dynamics at High Resolution (CSDyn) to be published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series (ASPCS)