Infrared He I 10830 Å, ultra-violet Ca II, and Mg II chromosphere emissions in the spectra of classical Cepheid X Cyg

Abstract

Aims. In a previous publication, we reported the first detection of emission in the infrared (IR) triplet at 10 830 Å in the spectra of the classical Cepheid X Cyg. Emission is detectable at phases from approximately 0.25 to 0.90. We present and discuss further information on the chromosphere activity of this star, namely International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) archive data concerning the emission in the h and k Mg II doublet, and near-ultraviolet (NUV) spectra in the vicinity of the H and K Ca II doublet. We also present rough estimates of the chromosphere conditions and semi-empirical modelling of the observed emissions in He I triplet. Methods. A study of the emissions in UV lines of Ca II and Mg II, and IR lines of He I suggests that the emissions observed at certain phases can be explained within the framework of the Gillet's phenomenological model of shock waves in pulsating atmospheres, which was developed from a study of the Hα behaviour in X Cyg spectra. We used the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) approximation and a simple model of this star's chromosphere for the analysis of the chromosphere indicator profiles. Results. We show that under certain assumptions about the properties of the chromosphere, it is possible to describe the presence or absence of emission in the IR lines of He I and Ca II, and UV lines of Ca II and Mg II.