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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
The best known β Cephei variable is a α Virginis (Spica) because it is a binary star (P = 4.01 days) and has a interferometer measurement of its angular diameter. In this study to see if the pulsations can be caused by mixing of hydrogen and helium in the semiconvective zone, the parameters we take are 11.5 M⊙, 26,300 K, 6.5 x 1037 erg/s with an envelope composition of Y = 0.28, Z = 0.02. These data agree within the errors of observations as reported recently by Odell (1980), and the theoretical radial fundamental mode period of 0.171 day compares well with the single observed pulsation period of 0.174 day.