Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research ScholarshipWe report eclipse timings and optical/infrared photometry of a sample of binary stars that include low-mass, nondegenerate stars, some of which are post-common envelope (PCE) secondary companions to hot subdwarf B (sdB) stars. We model the reflection effect in the later systems to characterize the temperature of the heated hemisphere of the secondaries, first from blackbody fits and then by comparison to libraries of the spectral energy distribution of dwarf M stars. We explore how consistent our phenomenological results are with the properties inferred from analysis of light curve shapes. Currently, the masses of these low-mass stars are unknown. We discuss the prospects for turning these reflection effect systems into double-lined spectroscopic binaries for characterization of the mass-radius relationship of low-mass PCE secondaries.Ohio State College of Arts and SciencesNo embargoAcademic Major: Astronomy and Astrophysic
