The V471 Tauri System: A Multi-datatype Probe

V471 Tauri, a white dwarf--red dwarf eclipsing binary in the Hyades, is well known for stimulating development of common envelope theory, whereby novae and other cataclysmic variables form from much wider binaries by catastrophic orbit shrinkage. Our evaluation of a recent imaging search that reported negative results for a much postulated third body shows that the object could have escaped detection or may have actually been seen. The balance of evidence continues to favor a brown dwarf companion about 12 AU from the eclipsing binary. A recently developed algorithm finds unified solutions from three datatypes. New radial velocities (RVs) of the red dwarf and BV RCIC light curves are solved simultaneously along with white dwarf and red dwarf RVs from the literature, uvby data, the MOST mission light curve, and 40 years of eclipse timings. Precision-based weighting is the key to proper information balance among the various datasets. Timewise variation of modeled starspots allows unified solution of multiple data eras. Light curve amplitudes strongly suggest decreasing spottedness from 1976 to about 1980, followed by approximately constant spot coverage from 1981 to 2005. An explanation is proposed for lack of noticeable variation in 1981 light curves, in terms of competition between spot and tidal variations. Photometric spectroscopic distance is estimated. The red dwarf mass comes out larger than normal for a K2V star, and even larger than adopted in several structure and evolution papers. An identified cause for this result is that much improved red dwarf RVs curves now exist

The impact of CoRoT on close binary research

The space experiment CoRoT will provide continuous monitoring and high accuracy light curves of about sixty thousand stars. Selected binary systems will be observed in the Additional Program frame as targets of long and continuous pointed observations. Moreover, thousands of new binaries will certainly be detected and hundreds of them will have extremely accurate light curves. This will allow studies of fine effects on the light curves, monitoring of stellar activity and, in combination with ground-based observations, will provide exquisite determination of stellar parameters. Among the new discoveries of interesting systems of special value will be those of low mass binaries.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, contribution to "Colse binaries in the 21th century", Syros (Greece), June 2005. To be published by Ap&S

An Eccentric Eclipsing Binary: CGAur

In this study, we present CG Aur's photometric observations obtained in the observing seasons 2011 and 2012, the first available multi-colour light curves. Their shape indicates that the system is an Algol binary. The light curve analyses reveal that CG Aur is a detached binary system with an effective temperature difference between the components, approximately 1000 K. The first estimate of the absolute dimensions of the components indicated that the system locates on the main sequence in the HR diagram. The primary component is slightly evolved from the ZAMS.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 3 table

METRO - The role and future perspectives of Cohesion Policy in the planning of Metropolitan Areas and Cities. Policy brief: The added value of the EU cohesion policy in the planning and implementation of metropolitan policies

This policy brief seeks to unpack the multiple added value of the European Union (EU) cohesion policy in metropolitan areas by exploring its priorities, funds and geographical distribution as well as the successful outcomes. Starting from the idea that the metropolitan scale is the most relevant to deal with those ‘functional’ issues that have a scope that exceeds the municipal boundaries (such as mobility, economic development, climate change etc.), this policy brief offers an overview of the added value of the EU cohesion policy on the planning and implementation of metropolitan policies in the 2014-20 programming period and elaborates a set of recommendations for policy and decision makers aiming at increasing this added value in the programming period 2021-27. Based on the nine case studies explored in the ESPON METRO targeted analysis, which include the metropolitan areas of Barcelona, Brno, Brussels, Florence, Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot, Lisbon, Lyon, Riga and Turin, this policy brief aims to support planners and policy officers in making well-informed decisions at EU, national and local level, when it comes to maximise the added value that the EU cohesion policy can provide to metropolitan development and policies. It does so by presenting possible ways of dealing with the complexity of the multiple impacts of cohesion policy and its metropolitan dimension

METRO - The role and future perspectives of Cohesion Policy in the planning of Metropolitan Areas and Cities. Annex I: Conceptual framework and methodology

The scope of the ESPON METRO project is rather broad, as its research positions at the intersection of a number of fields, ranging from territorial governance and spatial planning, to public administration and policy analysis and European integration studies, up to regional development studies. In order to explore the role that metropolitan areas play as catalysts and drivers of global development, as a consequence of complex processes of socioeconomic reorganisation and rescaling that have evolved through time, and with particular reference to the European Union (EU) cohesion policy, the METRO research team has framed its action and analysis within a composite and articulated conceptual and methodological framework. In particular, the latter has been shaped in order to allow the researchers engaged in the project to answer the three main policy questions animating the study: PQ1 | What role do metropolitan areas play in the development, management and implementation of the cohesion policy? PQ2 | What is the added value of the cohesion policy in the planning and implementation of metropolitan policies? PQ3 | What role does the cohesion policy play in consolidating metropolitan governance and cooperation? The conceptual and methodological framework for the project has been developed during the first months of the research, building on the materials already included in the project proposal, that were further detailed and consolidated through: A thorough consideration of previous research works on similar matters as well as of the existing scientific literature in the field of metropolitan governance and European integration and Europeanisation. The interaction with the project’s Steering Committee Members during the METRO kick-off meeting (October the 9th, 2020), the comments received in response to the Delivery n.1 and the outcomes of the Steering Committee Meeting n. 2 (November the 16th, 2020) and 3 (February the 23rd, 2021). This Annex to the Final Report presents said conceptual framework and methodology more in detail

Disentangling effective temperatures of individual eclipsing binary components by means of color-index constraining

Eclipsing binary stars are gratifying objects because of their unique geometrical properties upon which all important physical parameters such as masses, radii, temperatures, luminosities and distance may be obtained in absolute scale. This poses strict demand on the model to be free of systematic effects that would influence the results later used for calibrations, catalogs and evolution theory. We present an objective scheme of obtaining individual temperatures of both binary system components by means of color-index constraining, with the only requirement that the observational data-set is acquired in a standard photometric system. We show that for a modest case of two similar main-sequence components the erroneous approach of assuming the temperature of the primary star from the color index yields temperatures which are systematically wrong by ~100K.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; to appear in proceedings of the Close Binaries in the 21st Century conference in Syros, Greec

The massive Wolf-Rayet Binary LSS1964 (=WR29), II: the V light curve

Context. WR 29 is a known WN7h+O double-lined binary system with a rather short period (3.164 days). Aims. We search for light variations to determine the inclination of the system and thus the absolute masses of both components. Methods. We observed photometrically the field of WR 29 between December, 2002, and February, 2006. Results. We find that the V light of WR 29 varies in phase with the spectroscopic period of 3.16412 days, presenting two minima corresponding to the conjunctions of the binary components. Numerical models fitted to the light curve indicate an orbital inclination of about 44◦, and masses of 53 M and 42 M for the O- and WN-type components, respectively.Fil: Gamen, Roberto Claudio. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez Lajus, Eduardo Eusebio. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Niemela, Virpi Sinikka. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; ArgentinaFil: Barba, Rodolfo Hector. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio; Argentin

Revealing the Nature of Algol Disks through Optical and UV Spectroscopy, Synthetic Spectra, and Tomography of TT Hydrae

We have developed a systematic procedure to study the disks in Algol-type binaries using spectroscopic analysis, synthetic spectra, and tomography. We analyzed 119 H-alpha spectra of TT Hya, an Algol-type eclipsing interacting binary, collected from 1985-2001. The new radial velocities enabled us to derive reliable orbital elements, including a small non-zero eccentricity, and to improve the accuracy of the absolute dimensions of the system. High resolution IUE spectra were also analyzed to study the formation of the ultraviolet lines and continuum. Synthetic spectra of the iron curtain using our new shellspec program enabled us to derive a characteristic disk temperature of 7000K. We have demonstrated that the UV emission lines seen during total primary eclipse cannot originate from the accretion disk, but most likely arise from a hotter disk-stream interaction region. The synthetic spectra of the stars, disk, and stream allowed us to derive a lower limit to the mass transfer rate of 2e-10 solar masses per year. Doppler tomography of the observed H-alpha profiles revealed a distinct accretion disk. The difference spectra produced by subtracting the synthetic spectra of the stars resulted in an image of the disk, which virtually disappeared once the composite synthetic spectra of the stars and disk were used to calculate the difference spectra. An intensity enhancement of the resulting tomogram revealed images of the gas stream and an emission arc. We successfully modeled the gas stream using shellspec and associated the emission arc with an asymmetry in the accretion disk.Comment: 46 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables, accepted by Ap

BD+36 3317: An algol type eclipsing binary in Delta Lyrae cluster

In this paper, we present standard Johnson UBV photometry of the eclipsing binary BD+36 3317 which is known as a member of Delta Lyrae (Stephenson 1) cluster. We determined colors and brightness of the system, calculated E(B - V) color excess. We discovered that the system shows total eclipse in secondary minimum. Using this advantage, we found that the primary component of the system has B9 - A0 spectral type. Although there is no published orbital solution, we tried to estimate the physical properties of the system from simultaneous analysis of UBV light curves with 2003 version of Wilson-Devinney code. Then we considered photometric solution results together with evolutionary models and estimated the masses of the components as M1 = 2.5 Msun and M2 = 1.6 Msun. Those estimations gave the distance of the system as 353 pc. Considering the uncertainties in distance estimation, resulting distance is in agreement with the distance of Delta Lyrae cluster.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 5 table

Photometric and spectroscopic observations of the F3+M3 eclipsing binary T-Lyr0-08070

The multi-color photometric and spectroscopic observations of the newly discovered eclipsing binary T-Lyr0-08070 were obtained. The resultant light and radial velocities were analysed and the absolute parameters of the components were determined. The system is composed of an F3 and an M3 main-sequence stars. Masses and radii were estimated to be 1.37$\pm$0.23 M$_{\odot}$ and 1.60$\pm$0.09 R$_{\odot}$ for the primary and 0.32$\pm$0.04 M$_{\odot}$ and 0.86$\pm$0.06R$_{\odot}$ for the secondary star. The less massive secondary component has a radius at least two times larger with respect to its mass. Using the BVJHK magnitudes of the system we estimated an interstellar reddening of 0.22 mag and a distance to the system as 479$\pm$36 pc.Comment: Accepted. 21 pages, 7 figures; 2012, Sept.New.Ast. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0909.1921, arXiv:1007.513