Rapidly varying A-type stars in the SuperWASP archive

Abstract

Abstract. The searches for transiting exoplanets have produced a vast amount of time-resolved photometric data of many millions of stars. One of the leading ground-based surveys is the SuperWASP project. We present the initial results of a survey of over 1.5 million A-type stars in the search for high frequency pulsations using SuperWASP photometry. We are able to detect pulsations down to the 0.5 mmag level in the broad-band photometry. This has enabled the discovery of several rapidly oscillating Ap stars and over 200 δ Scuti stars with frequencies above 50 d−1 , and at least one pulsating sdB star. Such a large number of results allows us to statistically study the frequency overlap between roAp and δ Scuti stars and probe to higher frequency regimes with existing data.