What is the difference between the Big O and Big O star (asterisk) operator?

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I'm doing some research on algorithms complexity and in different papers I notice both the use of the regular Big-O operator O(...) and a variant O*(...).

I never saw the definition of the latter one, which has an asterisk. I can't seem to find a definition anywhere. (Disclaimer: Googling for symbols is nearly impossible.)

What is the name and definition of the O*(...) operator? And how does it differ from the regular Big-O operator?