Proposal for the Bylaws for the IAU Working Group on Active B Stars ^[*]

¹Space Sciences Center, University of Southern California, 835 W. 37th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1341; gjpeters@mucen.usc.edu

1. Nature and Goals of the Working Group

The Working Group on Active B Stars (formerly known as the Working Group on Be Stars) was re-established under IAU Commission No. 29 in 1979 at the 17th IAU General Assembly in Montreal, Canada, and has been in continuous operation to the present. Its main goal is to promote and stimulate research and international collaboration in the field of the active early-type (OB) stars. The focus of the WG was originally on the classical Be stars, but in recent years there has been an increasing contact and overlap with other research areas, particularly in closely aligned topics such as pulsating OB stars and B stars in interacting binaries. The Working Group on Active B Stars is an IAU Inter-Divisional Working Group sponsored by Divisions IV (Stars) and V (Variable Stars).

Our goal is to investigate active phenomena in B-type stars including mass loss and accretion, pulsations, rotation, magnetic fields, and binarity and determine the fundamental parameters for these objects and to promote collaboration and interaction between scientists specializing in these studies.

II. Membership

Membership is open to any scientist working in the field of active B stars, including amateur scientists. IAU membership is required to run for a place on the Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC) and to serve on the SOC, Members receive e-mail updates on news items published in the Be Star Newsletter, the official publication for the Working Group. One can join the Working Group by contacting the webmaster of the Be Star Newsletter.

III. Newsletter and Website

The Be Star Newsletter if the official publication for the Working Group. It is published irregularly with a frequency governed by the number of items submitted. News items, including announcements for meetings of interest to the Working Group and abstracts of new papers, and longer articles are submitted to the Editor-in-Chief. All articles are reviewed by anonymous referees who advise the Editor-in-Chief on the suitability for publication. All accepted articles are published on the official website for the Working Group soon after they have been accepted by the Editor-in-Chief. The website is maintained by a web editor. The technical editor is responsible for arranging for the printing and mailing of a paper copy of the Newsletter.

IV. Election of the Scientific Organizing Committee for the Working Group

The duties of the Scientific Organizing Committee are to decide policy issues for the Working Group and help prepare proposals for scientific meetings of interest to the Working Group. Each member of the Working Group who is also an IAU member is permitted to nominate four persons as candidates for the new SOC and send them to the Election Officer. The Election Officer selects 10 candidates with the highest number of votes. If several individuals have the same number of nominations for the last spot on the ballot, they are all accepted and the number of candidates will be higher than 10. According to the general IAU rules, only IAU members or new members pending approval at the current General Assembly can be accepted as candidates for SOC membership, and balanced regional representation should be taken into account in nomination of the candidates. The Election Officer must verify that all nominees to be listed as candidates on the ballot are willing to serve if elected. The four new SOC members are elected from the candidates by the members of the Working Group, who are members of the IAU, and may vote for up to four different persons. The four persons with the largest numbers of valid votes are elected. Their term lasts for the duration of six years, and begins at the conclusion of the IAU General Assembly in the year they are elected. A person must wait for six years, or two IAU General Assemblies, in order to run again for a position on the SOC. The four new and the four continuing SOC members determine among themselves the new Chairperson.