The purpose of the Working Group on Ap and Related Stars (ApWG) is to promote and facilitate research about stars in the spectral type range from B to early F that exhibit surface chemical peculiarities and related phenomena. This is a very active field of research, in which a wide variety of new developments have taken place since 2009, as illustrated by the following selected highlights.

The longest-known class of pulsating variable stars, namely pulsating red giants, is also the one that involves the most complex physical processes. Pulsation, mass loss, nuclear synthesis, mixing, atmospheric and circumstellar chemistry and dust formation all interrelate with one another and make both the observational studies and the modelling efforts quite challenging. The paper outlines some of the current key questions, and recommends observational strategies.

We present long-term observations of magnetic cataclysmic variables AM Her, AN UMa, AR UMa, DP Leo, and V1309 Ori obtained with the ROTSEIIId telescope. All data have been analysed and preliminary results indicate periods of 170 days, 217 days, and 180 days for AM Her, AN UMa, and AR UMa, respectively.

Three architectural traditions with astronomical associations have been identified among the ‘Great Houses’ and ‘Great Kivas’ of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Great Houses and one Great Kiva built during the height of construction activity (AD 1020–1100), the Bonito Phase, include front-facing south-southeast (SSE) orientations, and cardinal north-south and/or east-west (NS/EW) alignments. We present ethnographic material supporting our previous proposal that the SSE orientation is probably linked to migration traditions and ancestor veneration. We also confirm that a majority of Late Bonito Phase Great Houses (built after A.D. 1100) exhibit a third astronomical tradition: five of the principal in-canyon Great Houses built at that time were positioned at or near observing locations that could have functioned as solstice calendrical stations. Through use of these locations for public ceremonies, the Chacoan elite could demonstrate astronomical knowledge and ritual power. These findings provide support for Van Dyke's hypothesis that construction during this period was intended to reinvigorate a faltering system. One ‘Chaco halo’ Great House, Bis sa'ani, incorporates all three traditions. We suggest that temporal analysis of these traditions improves understanding of migration paths and shifting balances of power and social dominance among ancestral Pueblo culture groups.

The recent minimum was unusually long, and it was not just the case of the “usual story” slowed down. The coronal magnetic field never became completely dipolar as in recent Space Age minima, but rather gradually evolved into an (essentially axisymmetric) global configuration possessing mixed open and closed magnetic structures at many latitudes. In the process, the impact of the solar wind at the Earth went from resembling that from a sequence of rotating “fire-hoses” to what might be expected from a weak, omnidirectional “lawn-sprinkler”. The previous (1996) solar minimum was a more classic dipolar configuration, and was characterized by slow wind of hot origin localized to the heliospheric current sheet, and fast wind of cold origin emitted from polar holes, but filling most of the heliosphere. In contrast, the more recent minimum solar wind possessed a broad range of speeds and source temperatures (although cooler overall than the prior minimum). We discuss possible connections between these observations and the near-radial expansion and small spatial scales characteristic of the recent minimum's porcupine-like magnetic field.

The Turkish astronomical community has installed several telescopes during the last 10 years. We describe this work and discuss the potential of young researchers in Turkey, with the aim of fostering collaborations in the field of cataclysmic variables and related objects.

Due to its proximity, the Andromeda galaxy (M31, NGC 224) offers a unique insight into how the spectra of stars, dust, and gas combine to form the integrated Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) of galaxies. We introduce here Herschel Space Observatory PACS and SPIRE photometric observations of M31 which cover the far-infrared to sub-mm wavelengths (70-500 μm). These new observations reveal that the total IR luminosity of M31 is relatively weak, with LIR=109.65L⊙, only 10% of the total luminosity of M31. However, as seen in the previous studies of M31, the IR luminosity is dominated by a 10 kpc ring in all Herschel bands. This is distinct from the optical, where the bulge in the central 2kpc, dominates the luminosity, clearly demonstrating how different components at distinct positions in a galaxy contribute to make the integrated SED.

We present photometry and spectroscopy of the peculiar Type II supernova SN 2010jp, also named PTF10aaxi. The light curve exhibits a linear decline with a relatively low peak absolute magnitude of only −15.9 (unfiltered), and a low radioactive decay luminosity at late times that suggests a low synthesized nickel mass of about 0.003 M⊙ or less. Spectra of SN 2010jp display an unprecedented triple-peaked Hα line profile, showing: (1) a narrow central component that suggests shock interaction with a dense circumstellar medium (CSM); (2) high-velocity blue and red emission features centered at −12,600 and +15,400 km s−1; and (3) very broad wings extending from −22,000 to +25,000 km s−1. We propose that this line profile indicates a bipolar jet-driven explosion, with the central component produced by normal SN ejecta and CSM interaction at mid and low latitudes, while the high-velocity bumps and broad line wings arise in a nonrelativistic bipolar jet. Jet-driven SNe II are predicted for collapsars resulting from a wide range of initial masses above 25 M⊙, especially at the sub-solar metallicity consistent with the SN host environment. It also seems consistent with the apparently low 56Ni mass that may accompany black hole formation. We speculate that the jet survives to produce observable signatures because the star's H envelope was very low mass, having been mostly stripped away by the previous eruptive mass loss.

Many complex organic molecules and inorganic solid-state compounds have been observed in the circumstellar shell of stars (both C-rich and O-rich) in the transition phase between Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and Planetary Nebulae (PNe). This short (~102-104 years) phase of stellar evolution represents a wonderful laboratory for astrochemistry and provides severe constraints on any model of gas-phase and solid-state chemistry. One of the major challenges of present day astrophysics and astrochemistry is to understand the formation pathways of these complex organic molecules and inorganic solid-state compounds (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, fullerenes, and graphene in the case of a C-rich chemistry and oxides and crystalline silicates in O-rich environments) in space. In this review, I present an observational review of the molecular processes in the late stages of stellar evolution with a special emphasis on the first detections of fullerenes and graphene in PNe.

The chemistry of the early Universe is a fascinating field of study. Even in the absence of any elements heavier than lithium, a surprising degree of chemical complexity proves to be possible, giving the topic considerable interest in its own right. In addition, the fact that molecular hydrogen plays a key role in the formation of the first stars and galaxies means that if we want to understand the formation of these objects, we must first develop a good understanding of the chemical evolution of the gas. In this review, I first give a brief introduction to the chemistry occurring in the gas prior to the formation of the first stars and galaxies, and then go on to discuss in more detail the main chemical processes occurring during the gravitational collapse of gas from intergalactic to protostellar densities, and how these processes influence the final outcome of the collapse.

I present an overview of the molecular gas observations in high redshift galaxies. This field has seen tremendous progress in the past few years, with an increased number of detections of other molecules than CO. The molecular line observations are done towards different classes of massive starbursts, including submillimeter galaxies, quasars, and massive gas-rich disks. I will highlight results of detections of HCN, HCO+, and other small molecules, as well as the Spitzer detections of PAHs. Additionally, I will discuss about the excitation of CO and other species in the high-z galaxies and put this in the context of new telescopes such as ALMA.

Legacy documentation, the accumulated historical knowledge about an archaeological site, must be reviewed in order to locate data on the condition of archaeological features and architecture proposed to be related to astronomical observances. This type of documentation can be located in museums, research libraries, colleges or universities, national public institutions and increasingly in digitized collections available on the internet. Locating and using legacy documentation is more than a simple review of literature. It is an integral part of the process of architectural documentation. The method of architectural documentation involves detailed site proveniencing, obtaining summary data for study units, and detailed descriptions of feature conditions (Nordby et al. 2002). Case studies present the impact of legacy documentation when evaluating the original condition of astronomically associated architecture or features.

I present new observations of galactic and extra-galactic polarized variable sources, and demonstrate the science that one can obtain with the appropriate instrumentation.

The eclipsing variable stars GSC 44870347 and GSC 4513 2537 are recently discovered binary systems (Otero et al., 2006) with orbital periods 1d.99 and 6d.33 days. We carried out the photometric observations of these eclipsing binaries from 2009-2010 using a CCD-array at the Tien-Shan Observatory in Kazakstan, at the Crimea Station of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, at the Astrokolkhoz Observatory in New Mexico (AAVSO), while the spectrophotometric observations were obtained at the Starlight Farm Observatory in Barnesville, USA.

A large body of evidence has demonstrated that the global rest-frame optical and IR colours of galaxies correlate well with each other, which can be readily interpreted as a sign of typically smooth star formation histories. However the processes that lead to the observed correlations are contrary: the stellar light that contributes to the optical is readily absorbed by dust which emits in the IR. Thus on small scales we expect these correlations to break down. In this contribution we present our recent results (Zibetti & Groves 2011) from a pixel-by-pixel multi-wavelength (u-band to 8μm) analysis of seven nearby galaxies ranging from early- to late-types. We show that such a break-down occurs already on scales on few 100 pc, as a result of the different physical conditions in spatially distinct regions inside the galaxy, as we demonstrate by means of a Principal Component Analysis. Despite the lack of internal correlation between optical and IR within individual galaxies, when the pixels of all galaxies are compared the well known optical-IR colour correlations return, demonstrating that the variance observed within galaxies is limited around a mean which follows the well-known trends. We also examine the extremely strong correlations between the mid IR (Spitzer-IRAC)-NIR colours which extend continuously across all galaxies. These correlations arise from the differing contribution of stellar light and dust to the IRAC bands, enabling us to determine pure stellar colours for these bands, but still demonstrating the need for dust (or stellar) corrections in these bands when being used as stellar (dust) tracers.

Host galaxies are an excellent means of probing the natal environments that generate gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Recent work on the host galaxies of short-duration GRBs has offered new insights into the parent stellar populations and ages of their enigmatic progenitors. Similarly, surveys of long-duration GRB (LGRB) host environments and their ISM properties have produced intriguing new results with important implications for long GRB progenitor models. These host studies are also critical in evaluating the utility of LGRBs as potential tracers of star formation and metallicity at high redshifts. I will summarize the latest research on LGRB host galaxies, and discuss the resulting impact on our understanding of these events' progenitors, energetics, and cosmological applications.

Our Working Group (WG) studies massive, luminous stars, both individually and in resolved and unresolved populations, with historical focus on early-type (OB) stars, A-supergiants, and Wolf-Rayet stars. Our group also studies lower mass stars (e.g., central stars of planetary nebulae and their winds) which display features similar or related to those present in massive stars, and thus may improve our understanding of the physical processes occurring in massive stars. In recent years, massive red supergiants that evolve from hot stars have been included into our activities as well. We emphasize the role of massive stars in other branches of astrophysics, particularly regarding the First Stars, long duration Gamma-Ray bursts, formation of massive stars and their feedback on star formation in general, pulsations of massive stars, and starburst galaxies.

We estimate the consequences of a potential strong decrease of the solar activity using the model simulations of the future driven by pure anthropogenic forcing as well as its combination with different solar activity related factors: total solar irradiance, spectral solar irradiance, energetic electron precipitation, solar protons and galactic cosmic rays. The comparison of the model simulations shows that introduced strong decrease of solar activity can lead to some delay of the ozone recovery and partially compensate greenhouse warming acting in the direction opposite to anthropogenic effects. The model results also show that all considered solar forcings are important in different atmospheric layers and geographical regions. However, in the global scale the solar irradiance variability can be considered as the most important solar forcing. The obtained results constitute probably the upper limit of the possible solar influence. Development of the better constrained set of future solar forcings is necessary to address the problem of future climate and ozone layer with more confidence.

A revival over the past two decades in planetary nebula (PN) morphological studies springs from a combination of factors, including the advent of wide-area, high dynamic range detectors; the growing archives of high resolution images from the X-ray to the sub-mm; and the advent of sophisticated models of the co-evolution of PNe and their central stars. Yet the story of PN formation from their immediate precursors, the AGB stars, is not yet fully written. PN morphology continues to inspire, provide context for physical interpretation, and serve as an ultimate standard of comparison for many investigations in this area of astrophysics. After a brief review of the remarkable successes of PN morphology, I summarize how this tool has been employed over the last half-decade to advance our understanding of PNe.

We present our on-going project to unveil the post-nova population by re-discovering old novae that have been lost after the initial outburst and in which the binary itself is unobserved. We take UBVR photometry for candidate selection, long-slit spectroscopy to confirm these candidates, and time-resolved spectroscopy to measure the orbital period of the newly confirmed post-novae. Some preliminary results are shown as examples.