Properties and nature of Be stars 29. Orbital and long-term spectral variations of gamma Cassiopeiae

A detailed analysis of more than 800 electronic high-resolution spectra of gamma Cas, which were obtained during a time interval of over 6000 days (16.84 yr) at several observatories, documents the smooth variations in the density and/or extent of its circumstellar envelope. We found a clear anticorrelation between the peak intensity and FWHM of the H alpha emission, which seems to agree with recent models of such emission lines. The main result of this study is a confirmation of the binary nature of the object, determination of a reliable linear ephemeris T-min.RV = HJD(2 452 081.9+/-0.6)+(203.(d)52+/-0.(d)08)xE, and a rather definitive set of orbital elements. We clearly demonstrated that the orbit is circular within the limits of accuracy of our measurements and has a semi-amplitude of radial-velocity curve of 4.30 +/- 0.09 km s(-1). No trace of the low-mass secondary was found. The time distribution of our spectra does not allow a reliable investigation of rapid spectral variations, which are undoubtedly present in the spectra. We postpone this investigation for a future study, based on series of dedicated whole-night spectral observations.