High-precision CoRoT space photometry and fundamental parameter determination of the B 2 . 5 V star HD 48977 ( Research Note )

We present the CoRoT light curve of the bright B2.5V star HD 48 977 observed during a short run of the mission in 2008, as well as a high-resolution spectrum gathered with the HERMES spectro graph at the Mercator telescope. We use several time series a nalysis tools to explore the nature of the variations present in the light c urve. We perform a detailed analysis of the spectrum of the st ar to determine its fundamental parameters and its element abundances. We fi nd a large number of high-order g-modes, and one rotationall y induced frequency. We find stable low-amplitude frequencies in the p -mode regime as well. We conclude that HD 48977 is a new Slowly Pulsating B star with fundamental parameters found to be Teff = 20 000± 1000K and logg = 4.2 ± 0.1. The element abundances are similar to those found for other B stars in the solar neigh bourhood. HD 48977 was observed during a short run of the CoRo T satellite implying that the frequency precision is insu fficient to perform asteroseismic modelling of the star. Never theless, we show that a longer time series of this star would be promising for s uch modelling. Our present study contributes to a detailed m apping of the instability strips of B stars in view of the dominance of g -mode pulsations in the star, several of which occur in the gr avito-inertial regime.