Line-profile variations due to adiabatic non-radial pulsations in rotatingstars - IV. The effects of intrinsic profile variations on the IPS diagnostics

We calculate time series of Doppler-broadened line-profiles of rotating sta rs that exhibit non-radial pulsations. We investigate the variability of su ch line profiles for cases in which variations of the intrinsic line-profil e cannot be neglected. To study the effects of atmospheric changes on the l ine-profile variability we include: (1) local changes of the surface bright ness, (2) local changes in the equivalent width of the intrinsic line profi le, and (3) a non-adiabatic phase lag between the radial pulsational displa cement and the surface-temperature perturbations. We parameterize these three effects to extend the study presented in Paper I. The variability is analyzed by means of amplitude and phase diagrams obt ained from Fourier transforms at each point of the line profile. One of our findings is that an asymmetry in the distribution of amplitude across the line profile can be caused by non-adiabaticity of the contributing temperat ure variations. We perform Monte-Carlo simulations to investigate the correlation between t he phase diagrams and the l and m values of modes, in cases with line-profi le variability that is dominated by the variable atmospheric properties. Th e retrieval of l turns out to be similarly successful as in Paper II, where the variability was dominated by the surface-velocity field. We also find that harmonic variability is specific for pulsational surface-velocity fiel ds rather than for variations of the surface temperature.