155 research outputs found
Masses and angular momenta of contact binary stars
Results are presented on component masses and system angular momenta for over
a hundred low-temperature contact binaries. It is found that the secondary
components in close binary systems are very similar in mass. Our observational
evidence strongly supports the argument that the evolutionary process goes from
near-contact binaries to A-type contact binaries, without any need of mass loss
from the system. Furthermore, the evolutionary direction of A-type into W-type
systems with a simultaneous mass and angular momentum loss is also discussed.
The opposite direction of evolution seems to be unlikely, since it requires an
increase of the total mass and the angular momentum of the system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted in MNRA
Contact binaries with additional components. III. The adaptive optics detections
We present results of the CFHT adaptive optics search for companions of a
homogeneous group of contact binary stars, as a contribution to our attempts to
prove a hypothesis that these binaries require a third star to become so close
as observed. In addition to companions directly discovered at separations of
>=1", we introduced a new method of AO image analysis utilizing distortions of
the AO diffraction ring pattern at separations of 0.07"-1". Very close
companions, with separations in the latter range were discovered in systems HV
Aqr, OO Aql, CK Boo, XY Leo, BE Scl, and RZ Tau. More distant companions were
detected in V402 Aur, AO Cam, V2082 Cyg. Our results provide a contribution to
the mounting evidence that the presence of close companions is a very common
phenomenon for very close binaries with orbital periods <1 day.Comment: Full Figs.4 and 5 are in
http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~rucinski/Triples3
CoBiToM Project -- II: Evolution of contact binary systems close to the orbital period cut-off
Ultra-short orbital period contact binaries (Porb < 0.26 d) host some of the
smallest and least massive stars. These systems are faint and rare, and it is
believed that they have reached a contact configuration after several Gyrs of
evolution via angular momentum loss, mass transfer and mass loss through
stellar wind processes. This study is conducted in the frame of Contact
Binaries Towards Merging (CoBiToM) Project and presents the results from light
curve and orbital analysis of 30 ultra-short orbital period contact binaries,
with the aim to investigate the possibility of them being red nova progenitors,
eventually producing merger events. Approximately half of the systems exhibit
orbital period modulations, as a result of mass transfer or mass loss
processes. Although they are in contact, their fill-out factor is low (less
than 30 per cent), while their mass ratio is larger than the one in longer
period contact binaries. The present study investigates the orbital stability
of these systems and examines their physical and orbital parameters in
comparison to those of the entire sample of known and well-studied contact
binaries, based on combined spectroscopic and photometric analysis. It is found
that ultra-short orbital period contact binaries have very stable orbits, while
very often additional components are gravitationally bound in wide orbits
around the central binary system. We confirmed that the evolution of such
systems is very slow, which explains why the components of ultra-short orbital
period systems are still Main Sequence stars after several Gyrs of evolution
Resolving the pulsations of the subdwarf B star KPD 2109+4401
We present the results of extensive time series photometry of the pulsating
subdwarf B star KPD 2109+4401. Our data set consists of 29 data runs with a
total length of 182.6 hours over 31 days, collected at five observatories in
2004. These data are comprised of high signal-to-noise observations acquired
with larger telescopes and wider time coverage observations obtained with
smaller telescopes. They are sufficient to resolve the pulsation structure to
0.4 Hz and are the most extensive data set for this star to date. With
these data, we identify eight pulsation frequencies extending from 4701 to 5481
Hz, corresponding to periods of 182 to 213 s. The pulsation frequencies
and their amplitudes are examined over several time-scales with some
frequencies showing amplitude variability.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables; Accepted for publication in MNRA
Search for pulsation among suspected A-type binaries and the new multiperiodic Delta Scuti star HD217860
16 pages, 12 Postscript figures, 1 long table. Table 2 is only available in electronic form. Journal-ref: Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press (2007)We have explored a sample of suspected A-type binaries in a systematic way, both spectroscopically and photometrically. Due to their location in the H-R diagram, indications of pulsation and/or chemical peculiarities among these suspected binary (or multiple) systems may be found. High-resolution spectroscopy obtained with the ELODIE and MUSICOS spectrographs was used in combination with a few nights of differential CCD photometry in order to search for pulsation(s). Of the 32 investigated targets, eight are spectroscopic binaries, one of which is a close binary also showing eclipses, and three have been identified as Delta Scuti pulsators with rapid line-profile variations. Among the latter stars, HD 217860 reveals interesting multiperiodic photometric and spectroscopic variations, with up to eight frequencies common to two large photometric data sets. We suggest that at least one radial overtone mode is excited among the two most dominant frequencies. We furthermore found evidence for a strong modulation of the amplitude(s) and/or the (radial) frequency content of this intriguing Delta Scuti star
Radio and optical intra-day variability observations of five blazars
We carried out a pilot campaign of radio and optical band intra-day
variability (IDV) observations of five blazars (3C66A, S5 0716+714, OJ287,
B0925+504, and BL Lacertae) on December 18--21, 2015 by using the radio
telescope in Effelsberg (Germany) and several optical telescopes in Asia,
Europe, and America. After calibration, the light curves from both 5 GHz radio
band and the optical R band were obtained, although the data were not smoothly
sampled over the sampling period of about four days. We tentatively analyse the
amplitudes and time scales of the variabilities, and any possible periodicity.
The blazars vary significantly in the radio (except 3C66A and BL Lacertae with
only marginal variations) and optical bands on intra- and inter-day time
scales, and the source B0925+504 exhibits a strong quasi-periodic radio
variability. No significant correlation between the radio- and optical-band
variability appears in the five sources, which we attribute to the radio IDV
being dominated by interstellar scintillation whereas the optical variability
comes from the source itself. However, the radio- and optical-band variations
appear to be weakly correlated in some sources and should be investigated based
on well-sampled data from future observations.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRA
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