TESS Data do not Confirm Gravity Modes in the RR Lyrae Star HH Puppis

Abstract A recent study found pulsation frequencies in the RR Lyrae star HH Puppis that were identified as gravity modes, and argued that this phenomenon could explain the Blazhko effect in which pulsations of RR Lyrae stars undergo long term changes in amplitude and phase. The study used ground-based photometry that observed HH Puppis continuously over 136 days. I analysed TESS photometry of both 120 and 200 s cadences and utilised two different software packages for analysis. I do not detect the g -mode frequencies found in the ground-based data set. This casts doubt upon the claim that gravity modes have been observed in an RR Lyrae star.