Analysis of the nonstationarity of the atmosphere of α Cyg. III. Variability of the Hα-line profile

The temporal variations of the radial velocity and profile of the Hα line in the spectrum of α Cyg are analyzed based on 240 CCD spectra taken with the coude spectrograph attached to the 2-m telescope of Shamaha Astrophysical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan in 1998–2000. The results obtained are inconsistent with the conclusion made by the Heidelberg group concerning the behavior of the variability of the Hα-line profile [1]. The observed pattern of radial-velocity variations is due to nonradial pulsations and differs for the blue and red halves of the absorption profile. The pulsation parameters differ for different levels of residual intensity for both halves of the absorption profile. The amplitude and period increase from the core toward the wing of the line for the red half of the absorption profile, and, on the contrary, decrease toward the line wing for the blue half of the profile. Absorption features are observed on the blue half of the absorption profile. Their emergence and disappearance, as well as minor migrations are indicative of the clumpy structure of the stellar envelope. The similarity of the variability behavior of the absorption and emission profiles indicates that the latter too owe their variability to nonradial pulsations. Thus the variability of the stellar wind in its formation regions is partly due to the nonradial pulsations of the underlying layers of the atmosphere. On the whole, the variability of the position and photometric parameters of the absorption and emission components of the profile is indicative of the nonstationary nature and asymmetric shape of the stellar wind.