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Description
Gamma Cas is an unusual classical Be star for which the optical-band and hard X-ray fluxes vary on a variety of timescales. We report results of a 9yr monitoring effort on this star with a robotic ground-based (APT) telescope in the B, V filter system, as well as simultaneous observations in 2004 November with this instrument and the RXTE. Our observations disclosed no correlated optical response to the rapid X-ray flares in this star, nor did the star show any sustained flux changes any time during two monitored nights in either wavelength regime. Consistent with an earlier study by Robinson et al. (2002ApJ...575..435R), optical light curves obtained in our new APT program revealed that Cas undergoes ~3% amplitude cycles with lengths of 50-91days. Our observations in 2004 showed a similar optical cycle. Over the 9 days we monitored the star with the RXTE, the X-ray flux varied in phase with its optical cycle and with an amplitude predicted from the data in Robinson et al. (2002ApJ...575..435R).
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